Advanced Digital Pathology System Enters Service in the United Kingdom

A major British hospital has incorporated an advanced digital pathology system, which is expected to increase diagnostic accuracy as well as streamlining the performance of the pathology department.

Digital pathology takes the traditional pathology workflow—slides and microscopes—and uses scanners and software to digitize slides. With digitized slides, pathologists can examine high-resolution digital pathology workflow images with the aid of precision software tools. Pathologists can review case files with the slide image still in full view, and notes can be linked to specific areas of interest. Images and comments can be shared between healthcare teams with the same ease as sending an email.

Pathologists at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (United Kingdom) have begun to operate the Omnyx (Pittsburgh, PA, USA) Precision Solution digitalized pathology system. This state-of-the-art technology enables pathologists to accurately grade some types of tumors, including lung, prostate, and bladder tumors. In the first stage of adapting the system, more than 10,000 slides were examined in a study that showed that pathologists were as accurate diagnosing cancer with a computer as they had been with a microscope.

First author Dr. David Snead, professor of pathology at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, said, “I am delighted that University Hospital, Coventry has led this ground breaking study. This provides even greater evidence that digital pathology really works, and works well. The introduction of digital pathology has fantastic potential benefits for patients. We can expect to be able to read samples more quickly than before, and the big advantage is that we can use the computer to easily manipulate an image or its data. For some patients, this additional information may change how their disease is managed.”

Mamar Gelaye, CEO of Omnyx, said, “Dr. Snead and his team have made a significant contribution to showing the value of digital pathology for both clinicians and patients. We are only at the beginning of harnessing the benefits of digitizing pathology services, and we look forward to working with institutions like University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust to achieve even greater progress in delivering more accurate and efficient cancer diagnoses.”

The study was published in the December 6, 2015, online edition of the journal Histopathology.

Related Links:
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust
Omnyx