Jun 20, 2016 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
IBM’s Watson continues to seek a role as a cognitive computing tool of choice for physicians and pathologists in need of evidence-based clinical patient data
Remember IBM’s Watson? It’s been five years since Watson beat human contestants on Jeopardy. Since then, IBM has hoped Watson could be used in healthcare. To that end, some oncologists are exploring the use of Watson in cancer care. This could have implications for anatomic pathologists if oncologists developed a way to use Watson in the diagnosing cancers and identifying appropriate therapies for those cancers.
In 2011, IBM’s Watson supercomputer defeated human contestants for a charity prize during the television show Jeopardy. Just days later, Dark Daily reported on IBM’s goal for Watson to play a major role in helping physicians diagnose and treat disease. Since then, IBM has been exploring ways to commercialize Watson’s cognitive computing platform through partnerships with some of the healthcare industry’s biggest brands. (more…)
Feb 3, 2016 | Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
As tests explore genetic markers related to excessive weight gain, and breast and ovarian cancer, companies as well as employees are seeing returns on investment and participation
In a development that is auspicious for medical laboratories, more genetic tests are making their way into more corporate health benefit plans. Big brands—from Aetna to Visa—are partnering with personalized health companies and clinical lab companies doing genetic testing as they support tests to help employees head-off health risks.
Employers’ sponsorship of genetic testing is a trend that could become more common, noted Fortune. But human resources and benefits experts say the offerings are still uncommon. There are also unresolved issues, such as when genetic test results are inconclusive or questionable.
For medical laboratories, the companies’ genetic testing benefits could prompt more test orders from healthcare consumers. Based on the results of their genetic tests, people might decide to make lifestyle changes, work toward prevention of chronic conditions, and take further tests to assess progress. (more…)
Jan 8, 2016 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Pathologists will be interested to learn that this latest version of the acoustic tweezer device requires about five hours to identify the CTCs in a sample of blood
Medical laboratory leaders and pathologists are well aware that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) released by primary tumors into the bloodstream are fragile and easily damaged. Many studies have sought to find ways to separate CTCs from surrounding cells. Such a process could then be used as an early-detection biomarker to detect cancer from a sample of blood.
One team of researchers believe it has a way to accomplish this. These researchers are using sound waves to gently detect and isolate CTCs in blood samples. In turn, this could make it possible to diagnose cancer using “liquid biopsies” as opposed to invasive conventional biopsies.
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in collaboration with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) have developed a method for using acoustic tweezers and sound waves to separate blood-borne cancer cells from white blood cells. The research team believes this new device could one day replace invasive biopsies, according to a CMU article. (more…)
Sep 25, 2015 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Researchers are concerned about the lesser-known genes included in the test and also point out that little published research exists to support use of these genes for clinical laboratory testing
Gene-panel tests for inherited cancers were scrutinized by a group of 17 prominent international genetic researchers in a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) this summer titled “Gene-Panel Sequencing and the Prediction of Breast-Cancer Risk.” These experts pointed out that, for many of the genes included in these test panels, there remains much uncertainty about their role in various cancers and other diseases.
What will be of greatest interest to pathologist, Ph.D.s, and medical laboratory professionals currently performing molecular diagnostics assays and genetics is that these experts proposed greater regulation of unvalidated gene-panel tests for inherited cancers. In the NEJM, the authors provided some examples of genetic tests, such as those offered by Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MYGN), Ambry Genetics, Invitae (NYSE:NVTA), and Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) and noted that risks posed by many mutations occurring on these panels are unknown.
These panel tests can include more than 100 genes, 21 of which are an indication of breast cancer, including BRCA1 and BRCA2, stated the paper. (more…)
Sep 2, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
News reports state that Anthem and Cigna have denied payment for some multigene panel tests, saying that the tests are unproven. Other insurers, such as UnitedHealthcare and Priority Health, pay for such tests but only for certain patients
A conflict is building between patients and health insurers over the reluctance among health plans to pay for new, expensive molecular diagnostic assays and genetic tests that clinical laboratory companies offer.
This conflict has caught the attention of the nation’s media. That is probably because it makes a great story, for example, to interview parents who can assert that their sick child suffered because their health insurance plan would not pay for a genetic test the parents believed would make a difference in their child’s clinical care. Of course, pathologists and medical laboratory professionals know that there are a significant number of expensive genetic tests being offered by various lab companies that lack extensive data to support their clinical efficacy. (more…)