Attention All Surgical Pathologists: Algorithms for Automated Primary Diagnosis of Digital Pathology Images Likely to Gain Regulatory Clearance in Near Future

Jun 14, 2021 | Clinical Laboratory Middleware, Informatics, Analytics, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, International Laboratory News, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology

Hello primary diagnosis of digital pathology images via artificial intelligence! Goodbye light microscopes! Digital pathology is poised to take a great leap forward. Within as few as 12 months, image analysis algorithms may gain regulatory clearance in the United States for use in primary diagnosis of whole-slide images (WSIs) for certain types of cancer. Such a development will be a true revolution in surgical pathology and would signal the beginning of the end of the light microscope era. A...

Irish Cancer Society Report Shows Patients May Wait Two Years or More for Genetic Cancer Test Results

May 21, 2021 | International Laboratory News, International Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Resources, Molecular Diagnostics, Genetic Testing, Whole Gene Sequencing, Precision Medicine

Wait times blamed on the Irish National Health System’s ‘overstretched’ services and ‘under-resourced’ commitment to cancer genetic testing done by medical laboratories Histopathologists in the UK and anatomic pathologists in the US understand the important role predictive genetic testing can play in helping patients understand their risk for certain types of breast, bowel, and ovarian cancers. While timely access to cancer testing may be routine in the United States, a report out of Ireland...

South Korean Telecommunications Partner with Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Companies to Send Test Results to Consumers’ Mobile Devices

May 10, 2021 | International Laboratory News, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Laboratory Testing, Molecular Diagnostics, Genetic Testing, Whole Gene Sequencing

As consumer demand increases for medical laboratory testing services that bypass the supervision of primary care doctors, clinical laboratories may be affected Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing organizations and telecommunications companies in South Korea are collaborating to help consumers stay informed of their health status by sending lab test results directly to their mobile devices without requiring physician involvement. What can labs in the West learn from these developments? One...

Wall Street Journal Reports IBM May Sell Watson Health Due to Data Challenges and Unprofitability

Mar 29, 2021 | International Laboratory News, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations

Might this be a sign that AI platforms like Watson still cannot diagnose the wide range of patients’ conditions as accurately as a board-certified clinical pathologist? Computer technology evolves so quickly, products often become obsolete before fulfilling their expected potential. Such, apparently, is the case with Watson, the genius artificial intelligence (AI) brainchild of International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) which was going to revolutionize how healthcare providers diagnose...

University of British Columbia Clinical Laboratory Proficiency Testing Program Adds COVID-19 Quality Assessments, Endows Chair

Mar 26, 2021 | Instruments & Equipment, International Laboratory News, International Laboratory News, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations

COVID-19 pandemic has brought many non-traditional medical laboratory participants into UBC’s CMPT proficiency testing program When Canada’s British Columbia Center for Disease Control (BCCDC) saw the increasing demand for of COVID-19 tests and responsibilities headed its way, it reached out to a well-regarded proficiency testing program for help. The public health agency turned to the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Clinical Microbiology Proficiency Testing (CMPT) Program. Since the...

Concert Genetics, XIFIN, Bruce Quinn, MD, PhD, and The Dark Report to Update Clinical Laboratory Professionals on the State of the Genetic Testing Marketplace

Mar 23, 2021 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, International Laboratory News, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations

Physician use of genetic tests continues to grow at robust rates, even during the pandemic, but uncertainty about managed care reimbursement hangs over the market It may surprise many pathologists and clinical laboratory managers to learn that the market for genetic testing is robust and growing swiftly, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the explosion in both the number of unique genetic tests available to physicians, and the willingness of doctors to order genetic...