Clinical Scorecard: Industry Insights: Scanning the Path Ahead

At a Glance

Key Highlights

• The interviewee identifies scanner and system cost, along with established microscope habits, as barriers to wider adoption.
• The interviewee says residents and pathology students are increasingly trained using digital pathology and that some entering practice seek laboratories with established digital workflows.
• The interviewee describes a potential future in which scanning and AI analysis occur in parallel, with preliminary case triage.
• Automated quality control can assess image focus and quality, flag images that do not meet required standards, and identify aspects of tissue or sample preparation.
• The interviewee says affordability needs greater focus across the industry to make digital pathology more accessible to laboratories.

Guideline-Based Recommendations

Diagnosis

Management

• The interviewee says affordability should receive greater industry focus to make digital pathology more accessible to laboratories.
• The interviewee describes parallel scanning and AI analysis, including preliminary triage, as a potential future direction.

Monitoring & Follow-up

• The interview describes quality-control algorithms that assess image focus and quality and flag images that do not meet required standards.
• The interviewee says quality-control systems can also assess aspects of tissue or sample preparation.

Risks

• The interviewee says poor-quality slides can produce poor-quality images, and analytics may not perform as intended on those images.
• The interview identifies high costs and adjustment from microscope-based work habits to digital interfaces as adoption barriers.

Patient & Prescribing Data

Not discussed; the article focuses on digital pathology technology and laboratory workflows.

No patient treatments or prescribing information are provided.

Clinical Best Practices

• The interview describes assessing slide and image quality as part of digital scanning workflows.
• The interview describes flagging images that do not meet required quality standards.
• The interviewee notes that moving from microscope-based to digital workflows involves an adjustment period.

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