Wall Street Journal: GE Venture to Develop 'Virtual Microscope'

[Nilf]

I don't have WSJ subscription, so I didn't have access to the entire article, but here is the preview.


"General Electric Co. and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center have formed a company to help move laboratory analysis of human tissue into the digital age.

The company, Omnyx LLC, hopes to market a "virtual microscope" within two years that would scan and store images electronically. Omnyx's backers said that would improve patient care by making it easier for doctors to share information, and boost the productivity of pathology labs as much as 20%.

The project is aimed at the estimated 1.5 billion tissue samples analyzed annually in the U.S., and billions more ..."

So there is nothing new about virtual miscoscopy, but I just don't see how it will pathology labs 20% more efficient. Electronic storage and retrieval is nice, but I just don't see it replacing glass. If you are going back to review a case, chances are you want all the details you can get, and only glass can provide it.

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[Taurus]

Here are some more links:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_571102.html

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9367&fromRSS=true

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/06/05/nonprofit-pittsburgh-hospital-starts-a-company-with-ge/

 

[Taurus]

It's too soon to say if this technology will really make telepathology a reality. I wouldn't discount the impact that faster chips, cheap digital storage, and bigger bandwidth can have.

Just like radiology has had to deal with teleradiology, pathology may have to deal with the pros and cons of telepathology.

 

[yaah]

Yeah, as of now, it takes about 5x as long to make a diagnosis (at least 5x as long) on virtual slides as compared to real slides. That is not more efficient. There are other areas where virtual slides are more efficient, especially for the lab itself, but not for actually making diagnoses yet. "Efficiency," however, often refers to eliminating waste or extraneous tasks, this would do that (slide filing, slide labeling, organization, some paperwork stuff).

If you want to try for yourself, there are examples of virtual slides online - try virtual slide box http://www.path.uiowa.edu/virtualslidebox/ or see the abpath.org website, they have some demos for boards preparation.

 

[Matte Kudesai]

Yeah, as of now, it takes about 5x as long to make a diagnosis (at least 5x as long) on virtual slides as compared to real slides. That is not more efficient. There are other areas where virtual slides are more efficient, especially for the lab itself, but not for actually making diagnoses yet. "Efficiency," however, often refers to eliminating waste or extraneous tasks, this would do that (slide filing, slide labeling, organization, some paperwork stuff).

If you want to try for yourself, there are examples of virtual slides online - try virtual slide box http://www.path.uiowa.edu/virtualslidebox/ or see the abpath.org website, they have some demos for boards preparation.

USCAP also has a virtual slidebox:

http://www.uscap.org/

http://vslides.pathologyportal.org/...1022&chost=vslides.pathologyportal.org&csis=1

http://vslides.pathologyportal.org/...1022&chost=vslides.pathologyportal.org&csis=1

 

[Taurus]

Yeah, as of now, it takes about 5x as long to make a diagnosis (at least 5x as long) on virtual slides as compared to real slides. That is not more efficient. There are other areas where virtual slides are more efficient, especially for the lab itself, but not for actually making diagnoses yet. "Efficiency," however, often refers to eliminating waste or extraneous tasks, this would do that (slide filing, slide labeling, organization, some paperwork stuff).

If you want to try for yourself, there are examples of virtual slides online - try virtual slide box http://www.path.uiowa.edu/virtualslidebox/ or see the abpath.org website, they have some demos for boards preparation.

That may be true now, but what if you combine virtual slides with a "touch" interface like on the iPhone or "Surface" from Microsoft. You can move around with slide much faster.

Microsoft is focusing on touch interface in the future.

Who knows what the future will look like. Like teleradiology, there are pros and cons with telepathology if it takes off.

 

[yaah]

That may be true now, but what if you combine virtual slides with a "touch" interface like on the iPhone or "Surface" from Microsoft. You can move around with slide much faster.

Microsoft is focusing on touch interface in the future.

Yeah, I know the technology is continuously improving. It has gotten better over the past few years even. But it still has a LONG way to go to become even close to as fast or as easy to manipulate as real slides. It takes about 10 seconds total to pick up a slide of an adenoma, look at it, move around and look at anything funky, and put the slide back while making a diagnosis. That's the barrier. It will probably get there eventually, but there are hurdles to overcome.

 

[Matte Kudesai]

Yeah, I know the technology is continuously improving. It has gotten better over the past few years even. But it still has a LONG way to go to become even close to as fast or as easy to manipulate as real slides. It takes about 10 seconds total to pick up a slide of an adenoma, look at it, move around and look at anything funky, and put the slide back while making a diagnosis. That's the barrier. It will probably get there eventually, but there are hurdles to overcome.

Don't you think this is pretty fast though?.... compared to even a couple years ago?

http://vslides.pathologyportal.org/...1022&chost=vslides.pathologyportal.org&csis=1

 

[Matte Kudesai]

That may be true now, but what if you combine virtual slides with a "touch" interface like on the iPhone or "Surface" from Microsoft. You can move around with slide much faster.

Microsoft is focusing on touch interface in the future.

Who knows what the future will look like. Like teleradiology, there are pros and cons with telepathology if it takes off.

I am working on this....

The stage will be a pseudo slide touch interface surface... the size of a real slide.

As you move it around the image moves on a high def 52 inch monitor...

you increase mag with your thumb kinda like the space bar...

there is a margarita holder on a special recliner massage chair I am developing as well...

In a few years I will have the holographic projection algorithms perfected coupled to voice activation..
The patents are in....

 

[LADoc00]

read it, know the people. The crap is stupid. Trust me. Sounds good to ******ed biz types at a venture capitalist firm who might fund it. Never will fly. At least not for the next 5-6 decades til the technology changes.