Philips makes move to pathology

Royal Philips Electronics has developed a digital pathology solution aimed at easing workloads and providing decision making support in central and hospital-based pathology departments.

The new system comprises a high-throughput pathology slide scanner, high-capacity image storage and viewing system and software for feature recognition and analysis.

The company hopes that by allowing pathologists to digitise images that are usually viewed through a microscope they will be able to work more efficiently.

The system will allow pathologists to save time and money by reducing the need to locate lab technicians and pathologists alongside each other, allowing labs to perform more pathology tests using the same amount of staff, and preventing the need to physically send slides to external specialists.

Bob van Gemen, general manager of Philips digital pathology, said: “With a much higher proportion of people living to old age, there will be many more sick people in the world.

“Coupled with a world-wide shortage of skilled pathologists and the trend towards more pathology tests per patient, there is a real need to improve the efficiency of pathology departments by speeding up procedures and helping pathologists in their decision making and reporting.”

Philips says it is working closely with leading pathologists in the US and Europe to ensure that the solutions are easy to use and seamlessly fit into existing workflows.

However, it says it is seeking new partners to develop the system further -particularly in areas such as the development of industry standards for image capture and compression. It is also seeking collaborations with companies in order to develop additional image analysis and interpretation for software suites.

Link: Philips