Sectra Launches Solution for Digital Primary Diagnostics in Pathology – Enabling More Efficient Cancer Care

Sectra (STO: SECT B) is launching a solution for storing, viewing and sharing digital pathology images. The solution enables more efficient cancer care by enhancing collaboration and sharing of images between pathologists and radiologists. It will be showcased on HIMSS in Chicago, April 13-16, one of the largest congresses for medical IT.

With Sectra’s solution, pathologists will be able to review cases digitally on a computer screen, enabling the pathologists to replace the microscope. The digital format adds new tools at the pathologists’ fingertips and also allows samples to be sent easily to other pathologists to share the workload or for specialist consultations, thereby facilitating quicker and more accurate diagnosis.

“Many pathology departments stand on the threshold of adopting digital pathology to benefit from major health and financial gains and quality improvements throughout the cancer care chain. With 20 years’ experience in the medical IT field and having been a pioneer in the digitization of radiology, Sectra can help pathology departments fully utilize the benefits of digitization,” says Marie Ekström, President of Sectra Imaging IT Solutions and Executive Vice President of Sectra AB.

European and Scandinavian pathology departments are in the process of digitizing their work, but nonetheless, only a few hospitals have implemented digital pathology solutions. In the US, digital pathology for primary diagnostics is still pending FDA approval.

Efficient multi-disciplinary team meetings through common platform

Pathology and radiology are at the center of cancer diagnosis and their collective findings are the basis for patient treatment and its outcome. Both disciplines are highly dependent on adequate clinical information in order to provide accurate and useful reports for the clinician, surgeon, oncologist or patient. Despite their joint responsibility for cancer diagnosis, the exchange of information between the two groups is often very limited as the radiology and pathology workflows are usually completely different.

Sectra’s solution for digital pathology is built on the same platform as Sectra’s radiology PACS, the solution for managing radiology images. The common technical platform enables closer collaboration between the two specialties, sometimes referred to as integrated diagnostics, facilitating, for example, more efficient multi-disciplinary team meetings.

For further information about Sectras new solution for digital pathology

Initial report from two of a dozen concluded pilot installations