Virtual Microscopy
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Constraints of the traditional way of pathology workflow
Constraints of the traditional way of pathology workflow
What are the new challenges facing pathology?
1. More samples
As economic rationalization takes effect in hospitals and in research institutes, more work is done by fewer laboratories. In the era of digital information it is now possible to send information between medical institutes quickly and reliably. Therefore one pathology lab can work with samples from different health care facilities.
The traditional (analogue microscope based) pathology workflow is not suitable of handling much more glass slides. Besides of the exponentially greater work of keeping record and grouping of slides from different hospitals, transporting the slides physically is not at all reliable and fast. And finally but not last, we should not forget about the pathologist who has to make the diagnosis...
2. Less time
The patients do not like to stay in hospitals. It is vital that medical treatment begins as soon as possible and that is facilitated largely by shortening the duration of diagnosis.
This needs no explanation. Of course the traditional workflow is as rationalized and fast as it possibly can be. Further shortening of time needed for diagnosis can only be achieved another way.
3. Quality issues
Standardization is the next big step in medication. Certainly, every case is unique but there are universal aspects the diagnosis has to correspond to. The diagnosis has to be consequent under all circumstances.
Handling a greater amount of samples on glass slides on a microscope is a long process. As the diagnosis can easily be subjective (or, more precisely, it has to be) it would be very welcome to view and diagnose several slides in the shortest time possible. Revising the diagnosis of a previous slide is time consuming.
Also, consultation – which is the perfect solution for eliminating the deficiencies of the human factor – realized via glass slides is not fast enough, not to mention the risk of damaging the slides when transported.
4. Functionality
Medical diagnosis is developing rapidly. New techniques emerge that enable the diagnosis to be faster and more precise. Immunhistochemistry, fluorescent microscopy, 3D-viewing etc. – their role is becoming more important in modern pathology. Also, quantitative and qualitative analysis on the level of cells is often needed in research.
Traditional pathology finds it harder and harder to live up to these requirements. Apart from hardware changes it needs to cope with increased amount of information. Quantitative and qualitative analysis is far from being precise with the old method.
