Royal Philips Electronics has announced a partnership with Danish company Dako, in which the companies will work together to develop new digital pathology solutions. Philips plans to develop a slide scanner with integrated image analysis software to be provided by Dako. The companies will initially be working towards a breast cancer test, and plan to eventually expand functionality to prostate and colon cancers.
From the announcement:
Currently, anatomic pathology workflows to examine tissue samples are based on the microscope, through which pathologists examine tissue sections mounted on glass slides and treated with different stains. The staining enhances the contrast between, or reveals the presence of, cellular and molecular components such as cell nuclei or specific proteins. Accurate interpretation of the results is critical to the diagnosis and staging of each individual patient’s disease and requires a great deal of skill and experience. Digitizing the images that pathologists normally view through a microscope may enable the introduction of objective and quantitative image analysis tools.
Press release: Philips and Dako join forces in digital pathology…