
Article • Study
Surveying discrepancies
A limited survey of patients who died soon after being discharged from hospital found that almost a quarter had an undiagnosed co-morbidity with a potentially avoidable cause of death. Report: Frank Swain

A limited survey of patients who died soon after being discharged from hospital found that almost a quarter had an undiagnosed co-morbidity with a potentially avoidable cause of death. Report: Frank Swain

‘Why should something that works for the automotive industry not also facilitate leaner processes in pathology?’ Walter Depner decided to look at The Institute of Pathology in Bern, Switzerland, where the concept was tested for three years.

For several decades pathologists worldwide have been under increasing pressure to handle a steady increase in laboratory tests with a steady decrease in finance and staff.

Some years ago telepathology – a complex but well developed procedure where histology specimens are photographed using a camera mounted on a microscope and transmitted – was thought to be the wave of the future.

For several decades, pathologists worldwide have been under increasing pressure to handle a steady increase in laboratory tests with a steady decrease in the amount of financial and staff resources. Add to this the escalating volume of increasingly complex, sophisticated testing and the importance of pathology informatics is evident.

Having convinced medical labs across Denmark that its suite of image analysis software can provide a solution to the crushing burden of in vitro diagnostics (IVD), VisioPharm is offering it to pathologists worldwide

"I can count on my fingers the number of pathologists who work full digitally," said Elin Kindberg who is leading the development of a pathology PACS for Sectra Imaging IT Solutions. Conventional light microscopes continued to be standard tool for examining histo-pathology slides.

New imaging biomarkers are helping radiology to play a greater role in new drug developments.

In 2007, Sara Doll (Institute for Anatomy and Cell Biology, Heidelberg University) and Dr Frederik Giesel (Managing Senior Physician, Radiology Clinic, Department of Nuclear Medicine at Heidelberg University Hospital) initiated the development of virtual anatomy for a seminar aimed at students in the pre-clinical phase of their medical degree course.

Over the past 10 years the use of point-of-care testing (POCT) in in European and North American hospitals has steadily increased, stimulated by the objectives of accelerating diagnostic treatment, increasing efficiency and improving patient outcomes, Cynthia E. Keen reports

Multidisciplinary tumour boards (MDTs) are widespread in the Netherlands, and ‘they tend to be proliferating lately,’ according to Professor Folkert van Kemenade, Chair of the Pathology department at the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam.

Evolving technologies and market forces reveal that digital pathology is poised to radically affect the daily workflow and activities of pathologists and diagnostic laboratories

Healthcare imaging expert Barco has signed a worldwide agreement with Ventana Medical Systems, Inc., a member of the Roche Group, to provide its leading diagnostic and clinical review display systems for use with the Ventana Virtuoso image and workflow management system, offering a best-in-class, turnkey image viewing solution.

Aspects of new healthcare legislation are causing concern among medical laboratory experts in the United Kingdom – including the lack of future funding for innovation and development under a new reimbursement model, little appetite to quantify the cost effectiveness of laboratory testing, reduced staffing and a shift in emphasis that will see the need to make profit over-ride initiative and…

Although evolving as a tool in medical pathology for years, several factors have hampered its widespread use in this field. Now, a Scientific American article asserts that the time has come for a digital imaging revolution.

Swine flu has been confirmed in a number of countries and it is spreading from human to human, which could lead to what is referred to as a pandemic flu outbreak. Pandemic flu is different from ordinary flu because it's a new flu virus that appears in humans and spreads very quickly from person to person worldwide. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization raised the pandemic threat Level to 5…