Philips and NEC have joined forced to deliver the next generation of high-throughput pathology analyzers. One of the main features of the upcoming work stations will be Philips’ proprietary ‘continuous auto-focus’ technology that accurately follows height variations in the thin section tissue surface:
“With its e-Pathology system, NEC already has an impressive position in the digital pathology market in Japan and is well positioned to duplicate that success in many other parts of the world,” says Perry van Rijsingen, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Philips Healthcare Incubator. “I believe our joint development of highly integrated systems that combine superior slide scanning with state-of-the-art image analysis will be essential to unlocking the growth potential of digital pathology by helping to meet the ever-increasing demand for high-volume high-throughput pathology solutions.”
Philips’ ultra-fast slide scanner, which is already commercially available only in Europe for research purposes, employs a unique ‘continuous auto-focus’ technology that accurately follows height variations in the tissue surface over horizontal distances as short as 30 microns, allowing extremely high definition full-slide images to be captured in under one minute per slide.
NEC’s e-Pathologist system will use ‘machine intelligence’ to detect tissue and cell features within these images in order to identify regions of interest and make quantitative measurements of key structures in conventionally stained (Hematoxylin & Eosin) tissue samples, or samples stained with immunohistochemistry reagents. These quantitative measurements could assist pathologists in making decisions relating to the clinical treatment of cancer in individual patients. NEC has jointly evaluated this system with SRL, Inc., the largest laboratory test center in Japan, for biopsy of stomach cancer and has also started marketing a system focused on stomach and breast cancer…
The digital pathology solution of Philips features an open architecture that allows partners/vendors to expand the system’s capability by integrating their own added-value hardware and/or software algorithms into it. This will allow the creation of total system solutions designed to empower pathologists by delivering increased workflow efficiency, improved diagnostic performance and better patient outcomes. Partnering with Philips, a world leading company in healthcare markets, will therefore help NEC to develop its technology to suit worldwide market requirements.
Full story: Philips and NEC team-up in digital pathology …
