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Digital Pathology

21 hundreds of thousands of cases. The com- bination of quantity and quality will undou- btedly unlock unique insights that will ena- ble the development of predictive analytics to help personalize patient care. By un- derstanding how diseases and treatments work and being able to look for distingu- ishing clues, researchers will be able to pursue the discovery of new tissue-based tests and uncover specialized treatments. At the same time, having ready access to high quality information on diseases will allow pathologists to make more confi- dent diagnoses and enable faster inter- vention. Together, this offers the potential for pathology to drive a new paradigm in healthcare that includes the optimization of treatment efficacy and superior clinical outcomes to maximize personalized pati- ent management. Additionally, we can start looking at data outside the traditional health continuum. When pharmaceutical companies conduct drug trials, they not only have to track, data to get a drug approved and released but then they track it over time to measu- re its effectiveness. We have all this data now. Forward-thinking institutions are realizing the promise of digital pathology, and will put the industry on a path to end- less opportunities in genomics and perso- nalized medicine. Though pathology has often worked in the background of health- care, new technologies are enabling a new and exciting opportunity for us to show our value and transform care. BY HANS DRIESSEN, PHILIPS DIGITAL PATHOLOGY SOLUTIONS Three-step process for digital pathology As laboratories in Europe shift to systems for digital pathology, they must ensure the technology not only works, but works for them, says Dr Liron Pantanowitz, director of pathology informatics at Uni- versity of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). On 27 May, at the 13th European Con- gress on Digital Pathology in Berlin, pathologist Dr Liron Pantanowitz, from the Pittsburgh Medical Center will give the keynote address ‘Strategies and de- mands for digital pathology workflow integration’, discussing how to bring digital technologies into a laboratory without disrupting the processes alrea- dy set up. ‘Just because you’re bringing in new technology doesn’t mean you’re going to do a better job,’ Pantanowitz confirms. ‘The people have to be wil- ling to work with the technology and be efficient.’ Later in that 3rd day of the congress, Pantanowitz will also participate in a roundtable discussion on Digital Patho- logy Workflow Integration. In his keynote address, the pathologist will go over the three-step process for digital pathology: pre-imaging, imaging and post imaging, providing strategies for incorporating scanning of slides into a lab’s workflow, and discussing the im- portance of training people to do high- quality imaging to create the best slides and how laboratories can make decisi- ons about saving immense amounts of data. Going digital could have a negative af- fect on a laboratory’s workflow if, for example, employees batch all the work of scanning slides, or if there’s down- time, Pantanowitz points out. If laboratories follow the right integra- tion strategies, he adds, they can take advantage of the many benefits of a digital system -- using computer-aided diagnostic tools and conducting image- based searches, Pantanowitz will also touch on his work with Onyx, a company that provides digital pathology technology and is a joint venture between GE Healthcare and UPMC Digital pathology is gaining ground in Europe faster than in the USA, Panta- nowitz points out, with less stringent regulations governing its use. The country’s Food and Drug Admini- stration (FDA), which regulates medical devices, states that digital pathology cannot be used for primary diagnosis. While the USA’s laboratories can use digital pathology technology ‘off la- bel’, they risk being held liable if there should be a malpractice case. As a re- sult, three laboratories in Europe have gone fully digital, according to Pantano- witz, while he is not aware of any fully digital laboratories in the USA. UPMC runs a digital pathology consul- tation service, providing second opini- ons to pathologists, clinicians and pati- ents around the world, which provides the facility with an additional revenue stream. The Pittsburg Medical centre is in the process of collecting data regarding the use of digital methods for primary dia- gnosis to help make the case for using digital technologies for primary diagno- sis, Pantanowitz adds. LISA CHAMOFF Friday, May 27th • 9:00 AM–10:00 AM • Room: Hörsaal Strategies and demands for digital pathology workflow integration L. Pantanowitz, University of Pittsburgh, Medical Center, Pittsburgh, United States Dr Liron Pantanowitz is Director of Cytopatholo- gy at UPMC Shadyside. He is also Director of the Pathology Infor- matics Fellowship Pro- gramme and Associate Director of the Patholo- gy Informatics Division. Strategies and demands for digital pathology workflow integration

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