Digital Pathology Blog

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Posted by Robin Weisburger 03/07/2023

Digital Pathology Communication without the Keyboard – Real-time Voice Becomes an Option

Anatomic Pathology has been experiencing a major paradigm shift over the past several years as digital technology provides new ways of performing the daily work. Changes in workflow are affecting all aspects of pathology, whether clinical, research or education.

The early years of whole-slide-scanning offered academic institutions a way to provide teaching sets, resident collections and publication images without requiring technical staff to perform additional recuts, staining procedures and handling of blocks and slides. While there was indeed clinical utilization of telepathology techniques as far back as 19681, widespread use was limited. Over time, however, the use of telepathology became a way to perform intra-operative consultations, share cases, collaborate and seek clinical opinions from colleagues and outside experts.

Topics: Digital Pathology, Telemedicine, Pathology, digital imaging, Telepathology

Posted by Keith Kaplan, MD, Chief Medical Officer 05/10/2022

The Tumor Board, Virtually

There is a joke among surgeons and oncologists -- the pathologist at a tumor board is like the guy whose funeral that you are attending; you can't do it without him, but you don't want him saying too much. 

Nearly 2 years ago, our tumor boards went "virtual". Like billions around the world, we scrambled to get Zoom, GoToMeeting, WebEx and other applications up and running to hear each other’s voices and share screens to show radiology and pathology images. We anticipated that by the Summer or Fall we would be back to "normal".

Topics: Digital Pathology, Healthcare, Studies/Reports, Telemedicine, Pathology

Posted by Keith Kaplan, MD, Chief Medical Officer 08/04/2020

Where Do We Go From Here?

My grandfather, who was self-employed, made a living as a glazier and drove a cab in the winter when he couldn’t hang 10-foot panes of glass 100 stories above the city if it was too windy. The jobs required him to be aware of his surroundings constantly, whether high above the city putting glass on a skyscraper or running the one-way streets around the downtown Loop.

Topics: Digital Pathology, Telemedicine

Posted by Keith Kaplan, MD, Chief Medical Officer 08/05/2014

It’s 2 AM – Do You Know Where Your Pathologist Is?

A friend of mine recently put me on to some old, and not so old, articles about radiology services being outsourced, including this story entitled “Who’s Reading Your X-Ray?" in The New York Times, published more than a decade ago, and another article a few years old from NBC News entitiled “Is a doctor reading your X-rays? Maybe not”.

Topics: Digital Pathology, Radiology, Telemedicine, outsourcing

Posted by Dr. Keith Kaplan and Liz Wingard 07/31/2014

Is Telepathology Poised for a Giant Leap Forward?

Current technologies can enable real time access to expert pathology specialists for expert case review and are particularly valuable for patients in areas where specialists are in short supply. But other barriers to widespread adoption of these technologies remain. One of the key issues that must be addressed to spur that adoption is remote licensing for specialists.  

Topics: Digital Pathology, Telemedicine, Telepathology