GE Healthcare and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) recently announced they were beginning a joint venture in digital pathology. Together, they formed Omnyx, LLC, which would build and market a system for digital pathology. To date, digital pathology is a market that’s only been nibbled at the edges, and is primarily the domain of microscope companies such as Zeiss, Nikon, and Olympus. However, a small number of companies, bolstered by advances in digital image-gathering, are entering what is predicted to become a $2 to $4 billion industry.
Digital Pathology
Simply put, digital pathology is the utilization of digital photography to capture images on microscope slides. In the past (the early 1990s), there were a number of technical problems with digital imaging of anatomic pathology samples. Digital cameras captured the microscope slide images and stored them. However, the resolution of the digital photographs was not competitive with microscope optics and storage space was limited. A massive amount of data storage was required if the images of an entire microscope slide were to be archived. In addition, the task of capturing the entire microscope slide contents was time-consuming and laborious.
Dick Soenksen, CEO of digital pathology company Aperio Technologies, Inc., believes there are four requirements for effective digital pathology systems. They are:
1. Scanning ability.
2. Software to manage digital slides. In digital radiology they are called PACS (picture archiving and communication systems).
3. Information management systems.
4. The ability to perform image analysis on the digital slides.
Aperio Technologies, Inc.
If there is a leader in digital pathology systems–and it’s not clear that there is one–Aperio is probably it. Their headquarters is in Vista, California, with a European office in Bristol, U.K. Dick Soenksen, CEO of Aperio, says, “We are focused on digital pathology. That’s the only thing we do and it’s the only thing we’ve ever done. From our perspective, digital pathology is managing the information that’s generated by being able to digitize entire slides.”
One of the more interesting components of Aperio is their Digital Slide Scanning Service. Rather than invest in a system, the pathologist can ship their slides to Aperio and the company will use the ScanScope Scanner to digitize the slides, which are then returned along with a CD or DVD or via Internet access. Although the digital pathology market’s goal is undoubtedly to have all pathologists, labs, and hospitals using their technology in-house, this is a potential way to get pathologists to digitize early.
BioImagene
Cupertino, California-based BioImagene focuses on imaging systems for life sciences and digital pathology solutions. Mohan Uttarwar, President and CEO of BioImagene, says that their core competencies are, “The digitization of microscope slides, bringing in high-resolution image management, searching, mining of imaging data, and image analysis. Finally, the power of the Internet can be used to manage information, whether it’s a clinical report, educational content, peer reviews–formal or informal–or second opinions. All these pieces put together are something we as a company have focused on.”
Uttarwar cites four issues that are slowing adoption.
1. Lack of standardization.
2. Psychology, or resistance on the part of pathologists.
3. Ease of use and high quality.
4. Pricepoint.
Psyche Systems Corporation
Psyche Systems (Milford, MA) is not a digital pathology company per se, but a laboratory information system. They offer a number of different solutions for information management in a variety of laboratory areas, including anatomic pathology. Their AP solution is called the WindoPath Anatomic Pathology Information System, which has a modular, customizable design and can be integrated into several different laboratory information systems.
MIMvista Corporation
Based in Cleveland, Ohio, MIMvista recently made the news–somewhat contrary to Psyche’s comments about PocketPath–because of their development of a pathology imaging system specifically for Apple’s iPhone. MIM stands for Multi-modality Imaging, which has its roots in a digital radiology system dubbed Fusion.
Omnyx
As mentioned earlier, in June 2008, GE Healthcare and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center entered into a joint agreement to start a digital pathology device company called Omnyx. Omnyx will be headquartered in Pittsburgh and also have a site in Piscataway, NJ, in addition to facilities in Israel and in Albany, New York. As yet, Omnyx does not have an actual product, although they plan to have a prototype device developed by the end of 2008 and expect to launch a product in 2010. Gene Cartwright, CEO of Omnyx says, “We believe it will be a little less than two years before we have a product. I think that we’ll be able to describe it in high level detail by the end of this year, but it’s the sort of product that needs FDA approval and that adds a certain amount of time to it.”
Cartwright believes the reason the field of digital pathology is receiving so much interest at the moment is that some of the technical hurdles are close to being solved. “The main ones are speed of acquisition of an image, quality of the image, ability to navigate around the image without having to wait for the image to come up, and then the ability to stream images. The cost of storage has dropped by 30 to 40 percent a year.”
Educational Use
John Woosley, MD, PhD, Professor of Pathology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, notes an increased use of digital slides in medical education. He sees it as an opportunity for medical schools to cooperate and share teaching materials, primarily because once a slide has been scanned, it costs nothing to duplicate
Conclusion
As noted, pathology is one of the last areas of clinical medicine to become digitized, following radiology and cardiac imaging. Typically the domain of microscope companies like Nikon, Zeiss and Olympus, a number of small companies have entered the market with new optics technology and digital information management software.
Although a number of companies and researchers have approached digital pathology over the last ten to fifteen years, they were hampered largely by the difficulty of acquiring high-resolution images of the entire microscope at high enough quality to be clinically useful. As digital image capture technology improved along with increased digital storage capacity at lower prices, digital pathology may have reached a tipping point where the technology is available at a reasonable cost.
It’s not clear how large that market may actually be. Omnyx’s Cartwright says, “The assumption is the market will adopt digital pathology at the same rate that digital radiology was adopted. So in several years we believe–and at the price points we’re assuming the market will support–that the market will be worth about $2 billion.”
Aperio’s Soenksen is more optimistic. “We’ve looked at the market and we’ve made a hypothetical full-adoption in the market and say it’s close to $4 billion a year. That’s about twice the size of what GE had in their analysis. We see more value in digital diagnosis that could be applied to automate things that pathologists are currently spending time on.”
Posts Tagged ‘Digital Cameras’
Few Reasons to Prefer Digital Photography?
February 24th, 2010Today, more people are getting hooked over Digital photography. Since the birth of digital photography, it has been easier and more convenient for people to capture the best photos they desire. Digital Photography indeed has become the wave of today and in the near future. But what if you’re still using the old mode of taking photos- the film photography?
Well, think again.
For those few people who are still using film photography, here are some good reasons why you should opt for digital photography:
1. Generally, one of the most excellent features of choosing digital photography is that its convenience. Aside from the fact that digital cameras are easy to use since they are user friendly, these cameras are also portable and you can just safely place it in your pocket anywhere you go.
2. With digital camera, you can save your time and effort. Digital cameras provide instant feedback once you take photos. It has a review button to let you view all the photos so you’ll be able to choose the best one. At the same time, it has also a delete button for those photos you don’t like to keep. In short, you can keep on trying until you get the right photo. Now isn’t that great?
3. The next good thing about digital photography is its capacity to have your photos printed immediately. Actually, you can it is much easier if you have a digital printer. You can just simply connect your digital camera to the printer and press the button to print. On the contrary, film cameras takes time before you get your photos developed. You also have to go back to the photo shop to get your pictures.
4. Another great thing you can get from digital photography is the capacity to modify or edit your photos anytime. Since the images are in digital files, it is much easier now to edit them. You can simply open the images in any photo editing software supported by the file. With the photo editing software, you can alter or adjust the color of your photos. You can also crop the photo and design your own photo. All of these in one photo editing package. It’s more than what you can get from film cameras.
5. If you want to put up a small business, then digital photography would be of great help. Let your creativity works. Digital photos cannot just be simple photos. Now, you can turn them into T-shirts, mugs, invitations, greeting cards, calendars and a lot more. This is for the fact that digital photos can be printed anywhere and in anyway. Just make use of the right photo paper, and surely, you can make lots of money from it.
6. Lastly, digital photography has the ability to share the photos you have you’re your love ones and relatives. You can simply give a copy of the precious moments to someone everywhere. Just attach the softcopy of the photo to your email and send. That easy. But with film camera, you will spend money just on scanning the photos, to be able to send them online. Of course that’s an extra work for a digital photographer.
Apparently, digital photography has really paved way for making photography convenient and easier at the same time achieving high quality photos. It just shows that there’s no other time to opt to digital photography than now.
Digital Picture Frames: Why You Should Convert From Traditional Frames
February 22nd, 2010It’s highly likely you are one of the vast majorities of people who have converted from using tradition cameras to digital cameras. The idea of using regular photographic equipment with film that actually requires you to take it to get developed into prints seems archaic. It’s hard to believe that only 10, even 5 years ago, many people still used this type of traditional picture-taking equipment. Despite the fact that most people now take and store pictures digitally, picture frames still mostly display printed photographs, not the digital ones we take and store.
However this is rapidly changing. Digital picture frames are one of the hottest new consumer electronic products, which allow digital pictures to be displayed in their true form – digitally. No longer do photos need to be printed to be displayed. Instead, by transferring them to a digital picture frame through the use of a memory device (SD memory card, memory stick, or USB flash drive), they can displayed as is on a LCD screen the size of a picture frame (usually somewhere between 5 inches and 15 inches in size).
What makes this more exciting is that once you go digital with you picture frames, many more possibilities open up. Instead of a digital frame displaying a single photo all the time, a digital picture frame can store dozens or even hundreds of photos, and rotate them in slideshow type fashion on your LCD frame. Thus your picture frame is now a dynamic digital display device that shows constantly changing pictures based on setting that you set – way more exciting than a static tradition frame that only shows a single image (until you get the motivation to swap it out). Putting new pictures on your digital picture frame is also much simpler in the digital realm, especially if you have a wireless capable digital frame that can accept streaming pictures from your PC and Flickr account.
Major manufacturers of digital picture frames like Smartparts, Portable USA, and Kodak are also adding new feature that open up even more possibilities. Digital picture frames now can also display other information such as a calendar, clock, or news and weather using free services that work similar to RSS feeds. So not only will your digital photo frame display crisp, clear pictures, but be another information portal in your home or office besides your computer and television. Many digital frames actually combine a collage of information (calendar, clock, photos) based on your setting on the screen at one time.
Besides the digital nature of digital picture frames, you can likely find a frame that suits all your other needs in terms of style and décor. There are so many manufacturers now that there are plenty of digital frame sizes, wood finishes, colors, and styles. Certainly this is a growing category of products, and selection will increase and prices will drop, but shop around and you will likely find one that matches the room you are trying to accessorize, or wall you are looking to hang it on. Speaking of which, digital picture frames are also getting larger and larger in size. It’s not unusual to find digital frames up to 15 inches, and recently Smartparts released a stunning 32-inch digital picture frame that is less frame and more portrait.
So if you haven’t started the process of converting your traditional frames to digital picture frames, you likely will soon. Unless you are one of the ones still using a regular film camera!
