The Daily Scan

Aperio on the cover of Scientific American!

Wow, how cool is this?  Aperio has made the cover of Scientific American, with an article entitled Digital Diagnosis: Computerized Slides Speed Care (PDF).

It's a nice survey article about digital pathology and the value it is bringing to pathologists and medical care.  It's not quite the cover o the Rolling Stone... it's better!

Are pathologists less accepting of new technology than other professionals?

Bruce Friedman asks a provocative question in a blog post about The Need for the Coordinated Efforts of Technololgy Evangelists in Digital Pathology: Do you think that pathologists in particular, and physicians in general, are more or less accepting of new technology than other professionals of the same educational level and income?  

(Bruce posts...)

I don't know the answer to this question but I do believe that the adoption of digital pathology has been much slower than I would have predicted a year or two ago. There are are number of compelling reasons for this, some of which I have documented in this blog. However, I come away with the following idea: most pathologists are very receptive to new science but not necessarily to new technology based on this science, particularly when the technology disrupts established lab workflow or invokes changes in the status quo (see: Major Drivers for the Conversion to Digital Pathology in Teaching Programs). Digital pathology definitely falls into this latter category.

Interestingly enough, many high-tech firms in Silicon Valley face similar issues relating to the adoption of new technology. Executives and engineers working in these firms, when faced with the question of  adoption or rejection of an emerging technology, will often reject it in favor of the tried and true. Sometimes they will even try to "smother" new technologies in their companies if and when they threaten the budgets that they control. To combat this problem, a new type of professional is arising in these companies called the technology evangelist.

Please go over to Bruce's blog and comment if you have a thought (or feel free to comment here of course!)

My own view is that two factors have slowed adoption of digital pathology, both economic.  The first is timing; digital pathology has become widely known and available at a time of financial crisis, and healthcare organizations are being conservative with investments in new technologies.  The second is that the ROI of this technology has yet to be clearly established, particularly in hospitals.  As more early adopters use the technology and positive results become documented, they will help provide the justifications needed by mainstream customers to adopt the technology, at which point it will "cross the chasm".

What do you think?

Steven Potts joins Flagship Biosciences as new CEO

Congratulations to Steven Potts, who was recently named the new CEO of Flagship Biosciences, a provider of digital pathology services based in Flagstaff Arizona:

Flagship Biosciences LLC, a provider of digital pathology services, announced that Steven Potts has joined the company as Chief Executive Officer, with Dave Young continuing to serve as President of Flagship Biosciences. Steve has extensive experience in digital pathology, both at Aperio Technologies and previously at Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute. He has worked for the last three years managing the biopharma business for Aperio, initiating and leading the work in GLP compliance and angiogenesis measurement, and in the development of standards for whole slide imaging in biopharmaceutical preclinical and clinical trials applications.

...

Flagship Biosciences is a pathologist-owned company whose mission is to improve tissue assessment in pharmaceutical and medical device development. Flagship’s services include quantitative pathology assessment on-demand, low-cost digital pathology slide scanning, secure hosting, pathologist-supervised IHC and histology placement, custom image analysis and companion diagnostics development. All of their services are reviewed and supervised by board-certified pathologists.

While it is always sad to see an excellent contributor (and good friend) like Steve leave, it is great to see him taking on such an important role in a new opportunity.  We wish him well and look forward to working with him to serve our mutual customers.

CTO = Chief Tweeting Officer?

In a rather humorous vein, India Realtime reports on the increasing importance of social media to companies, including the use of Twitter: Can Chief Twit Be Far Behind?

Very soon, companies will have Chief Tweeting Officers.

That’s what some Twitterers and bloggers predict, judging by how well chief bloggers and chief happiness officers, self-styled or otherwise, have taken to their jobs.

The corporate world has seen a flood of innovative designations in recent years.  Maybe it’s a job creation program, or an effort to develop a unique corporate culture.

While some managers may view appointments to unheard-of-yet-savvy job titles as a talent-retention mechanism, others see it as a more fulfilling extension of the company’s social role — like nurturing a baby or tending to a garden.

Fascinating.  Of course at Aperio we've been blogging since March 2004, we're not exactly new to this.  Way back last November (!) we began tweeting, and as time passed we've been tweeting more.  It will be interesting to watch how Twitter and other social media are accepted and used.  In the meantime, please stay tuned!

CBLPath Announces New Department of Integrated Diagnostics

New York reference lab CBLPath has announced a new "Department of Integrated Diagnostics":

CBLPath today announced the creation of its new Department of Integrated Diagnostics under the direction of Madeline Vazquez, M.D., who is based at the company's Manhattan Reading Station in New York City.

This new department provides a convergence of laboratory diagnostics, medical imaging and digital medicine solutions, resulting in improved patient care from diagnosis and prognosis through to treatment.

"By integrating electronic patient information from the laboratory and imaging systems, the process of diagnosis becomes faster and patient care becomes more cost effective, with a reduced possibility of redundant testing," said William W. Curtis, CBLPath Chairman and CEO. "The creation of our Integrated Diagnostics department is just one more way that CBLPath is providing novel solutions to support the convergence in the pathology market."

Chief Medical Officer Carlos D. Urmacher, M.D. concurs that the focus of this new offering is clearly on the patient. "Anatomic pathology is changing and the role of the pathologist is becoming more 'patient-centric,' moving the field beyond proficient diagnostic reporting to advanced integrated reporting," he said

What an interesting trend.  I am hearing the term "diagnostician" more and more frequently, often in the context of the possible convergence between radiology and pathology.  Here we have the convergence of different disciplines within laboratory medicine, referred to in the same way.

Digital Pathology Aids Slide Preservation

Advance for Lab Administrators have posted a cool article by Aperio Product Manager Chrystal Adams: Tips for Slide Preservation.

Digital pathology systems are providing remarkable flexibility to lab professionals and pathologists by facilitating access to digital slide images, independent of glass slides or microscopes.  Digital slides can be viewed, shared and analyzed in ways physical slides cannot—for consultation, pharmaceutical research and education.

Yet another valuable benefit of digital pathology is its use in the permanent archival and preservation of glass slide specimens and collections.  Since many biological specimens prepared on glass slides may degrade, break or even get lost over time, there is a tremendous advantage to creating a permanent digital slide archive and database of precious and rare slide specimens and collections for posterity.

The article describes the joint project between Dr. Juan Rosai, the USCAP, and Aperio to digitize Dr. Rosai's amazing collection, as an example:

Efforts are under way between the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathologists (USCAP) and a leading digital pathology vendor to digitize, archive and make the historical Dr. Juan Rosai Collection of Surgical Pathology Seminars available online at no cost to the public via a Web-based digital slide sharing service.  (see http://secondslide.com/rosai)  Pathologists around the world will be able to access the collection to learn about the evolution of surgical pathology and examine the material that has been utilized by leading experts for case evaluation over the past 60 years. The project will include the creation of a custom-built Web site that will dynamically interface with the digital slide collection to provide diagnostic and historical context, and interactive learning tools.

An excellent use of the technology of digital pathology.  Over time we can anticipate that the capability to preserve and share valuable pathology collections will greatly benefit pathology education, just as the archive capabilities benefit clinicians and patients.

Amazon's Kindle Showing Promise as Means to Access Medical Literature

Thanks to Keith Kaplan for noting this article on FierceMobile: Amazon's Kindle Showing Promise as Means to Access Medical Literature:

One advantage the Kindle has over the iPad, and just about any smartphone, is its free mobile Internet access. "We thought we might be able to exploit this access for another use," Megan von Isenburg, associate director of public services at Duke University Medical Center's library, said at a mobile healthcare conference in Baltimore last month.

With the help of a federal grant, Duke medical librarians converted textbooks and clinical guidelines for use on the Kindle and added functions to search PubMed and the Internet. They gave the devices to various medical students and preceptors for their rotations in primary care. Though the device is much slower than a full-powered computer, it scored high in terms of reliability and usability; 19 of 21 test subjects said they were comfortable using the Kindle in front of colleagues.

This is so cool; I have a Kindle and I love it.  One advantage of the Kindle is the form factor; it is the same [small] size and weight regardless of the content; you can read a 2,000 page clinical textbook on it.  And of course the search capabilities and ability to access the Internet make it far more than a book.

UCSF find predicts severity of breast cancer

SFGate reports UCSF find predicts severity of breast cancer:

UCSF researchers have found a way to predict whether women with the earliest form of breast cancer are likely to develop deadly tumors - a significant discovery that might save women who aren't at high risk from getting life-altering and unnecessary treatment.

More than 60,000 women every year are diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, the most common type of noninvasive breast cancer, in which the early cancer cells are localized to the milk ducts. Almost all of these women undergo treatment involving either a lumpectomy or a complete mastectomy; very few of them develop invasive cancer or die within 10 years, the standard time for gauging cancer risk.

Researchers have long known that many women who choose to have lumpectomies or mastectomies will be over-treated for a disease that will never turn into full-blown cancer, but the alternative - waiting to see what happens - doesn't sit well with most patients or doctors. Only about 5 percent of women with DCIS choose to get no treatment and continue monitoring the tissue.

The new study, which appears online today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, suggests that doctors may be able to use "biomarkers," or biological indicators, in the body to determine a woman's risk of developing cancer.

Wow, excellent progress.  Using biomarkers for the purpose of prognostic tests on cancers is becoming more and more frequent, and digital pathology and image analysis are increasingly important as a way to detect and quantify such biomarkers.

Free Digital Pathology Seminars: Chicago May 13, Cleveland May 14

Greetings, just wanted to make you all aware of a couple of FREE seminars which Aperio is hosting in May, one in Chicago on May 13th:

CHICAGO DIGITAL PATHOLOGY SEMINAR May 13, 2010 Hyatt Regency on the Riverwalk Click here for a map. For detailed directions call 312.565.1234. Contact Information Nicole Siska 760.539.1193 nsiska@aperio.com  About Aperio Aperio is the market leader in digital pathology, which is a digital environment for the management and interpretation of pathology information that originates with a digital slide.

Join Us for the Chicago Digital Pathology Seminar Aperio is pleased to announce the first-annual Chicago Digital Pathology Seminar, held at the Hyatt Regency on the Riverwalk. The seminar is complimentary and meals will be provided.  Meet and network with fellow clinicians, pathologists, histologists, biostatisticians, researchers, informaticians, and biologists to share ideas about implementing digital pathology in drug development, academic, and research environments. SEMINAR TOPICS: Hands-On Breakfast Workshop: Slide Scanning 101 Scott Spear, Aperio Spectrum Plus and Data Management Peter Gann, MD, ScD, University of Illinois at Chicago Aging, the Architecture of Normal Breast Tissue, and Breast Cancer Risk Christopher Tully, Aperio Image Analysis 101: Tools for Analyzing Histology Gerard Gagne, Abbott Laboratories Bringing the Divide - Using Digital Pathology to Guide Ultrastructural Pathology Evaluations Frank Voelker, DVM, DACVP, Flagship Biosciences  Measuring Fat and Vacuolar Space Using Digital Pathology Jared Schwartz, MD, PhD, Aperio  Overcoming Psychological Barriers to Adoption of Digital Pathology and Other Novel Technologies Ossama (Sam) Tawfik, MD, PhD, Kansas University Medical Center Interactive Multi-Disciplinary Web Conferencing for Radiology/Pathology Correlation of Breast Biopsies: How Integrated Breast Cancer Diagnostics are Improving Patient Care Bruce Dunn, MD, Milwaukee VA Medical Center Primary Diagnostic Telepathology RSVP TODAY TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT! To RSVP for this seminar, contact Nicole Siska, Aperio Events Team, at 760.539.1193 or nsiska@aperio.com.

And one in Cleveland on May 14th:

CLEVELAND DIGITAL PATHOLOGY SEMINAR May 14, 2010 Hyatt Regency at the Arcade 420 Superior Avenue Cleveland, OH Click here for a map and driving directions or call 216.575.1234. Contact Information Nicole Siska 760.539.1193 nsiska@aperio.com  About Aperio Aperio is the market leader in digital pathology, which is a digital environment for the management and interpretation of pathology information that originates with a digital slide.

Cleveland Digital Pathology Seminar Schedule Aperio is pleased to announce the first-annual Cleveland Digital Pathology Seminar, held at the Hyatt Regency Cleveland at the Arcade. The seminar is complimentary and meals and parking will be provided.  Meet and network with fellow clinicians, pathologists, histologists, biostatisticians, researchers, informaticians, and biologists to share ideas about implementing digital pathology in drug development, academic, and research environments. A SAMPLING OF SEMINAR TOPICS: Marc Friedman, PhD, Aperio Hands-On Workshop: Slide Scanning 101 Scott Spear, Aperio Spectrum Plus and Data Management Bill Standwill, HistoRx AQUA® Technology for Precise Biomarker Expression Measurement in Tissue Christopher Tully, Aperio Image Analysis 101: Tools for Analyzing Histology Frank Voelker, DVM, DACVP, Flagship Biosciences  Measuring Fat and Vacuolar Space Using Digital Pathology Jared N Schwartz, MD, PhD, Aperio  Overcoming Psychological Barriers to Adoption of Digital Pathology and Other Novel Technologies   RSVP TODAY TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT! To RSVP for this seminar, contact Nicole Siska, Aperio Events Team, at 760.539.1193 or nsiska@aperio.com.

Cheers, we hope to see you at one of these seminars!