At this week’s Pathology Visions event in Las Vegas, Philips introduced a digital pathology suite to enhance diagnostic confidence and streamline pathology lab workflows.

IntelliSite provides high quality imaging with multi-site, multi-disciplinary interoperability, artificial intelligence and laboratory information system integration, improving diagnostic confidence.

The Dutch health technology company says the suite moves digital pathology into the heart of enterprise-wide healthcare informatics. It features a scalable suite of software tools and capabilities designed to help streamline workflows, enhance diagnostic confidence, facilitate team collaboration, integrate artificial intelligence (AI) and increase the efficiency of pathology labs.

The technology suits low-volume spoke labs or small independent labs, where small batches of slides are continually processed and scanned, to medium and large labs operating high-volume batch processing workflows.

The hardware is pre-equipped for multi-layer slide scanning. Images are captured in a centralised informatics platform that has been optimised around pathologists’ workflows, integrating with third-party AI tools and algorithms with the aim to reduce laboratory costs and enhance diagnostic capabilities.

“By providing pathologists the interoperability and connectivity to share high-quality images and diagnostic insights across networks, Philips’ digital pathology suite positions them as key stakeholders in the data-driven healthcare systems of the future,” said Louis Culot, general manager for oncology informatics at Philips. “Integrated diagnostic capabilities are a cornerstone to a precise diagnosis and personalised care pathway selection for oncology patients and only when data and specialties work together in harmony can the ultimate promise of care be realised. That’s why bringing together multiple pieces of the healthcare continuum – like radiology, pathology and genomics – is the key to a new paradigm of diagnostic precision.”

He said by providing pathologists the interoperability and connectivity to share high-quality images and diagnostic insights across networks, the suite positioned them as key stakeholders in the data-driven healthcare systems of the future.

The suite includes a range of three pathology slide scanners, as well as the Pathology Workspace image management system, a comprehensive set of software tools and capabilities that encompass every stage of the digital pathology process, including an image management system, bidirectional interoperability into laboratory information systems, and a case viewer that facilitates multidisciplinary case reviews and care pathway selection.

Diagnostic confidence is enhanced by image quality and algorithms, such as automatic tissue shape detection and non-rectangular optimisation of regions of interest. Vendor-agnostic data interoperability also allow the easy sharing of patient-centric histology data across enterprises and between sites.

“Medipath is focused on accelerating the path of augmented pathology by slide digitalisation on all our technical platforms,” said Stephane Rossat, director for innovation, science and project management at Medipath, a French pathology group with a network of 11 technical labs. “We are very excited to leverage the new Philips digital pathology suite, including the SG300 pathology scanner and Pathology Workspace with de-identification tools, for each of our sites. Following the first days of installation, it is already proving easy to use, with images generated more quickly, while the quality and sharpness of the images produced is experienced to be superior.”

He said the suite was what the organisation needed to expand its digital pathology capabilities and activate its transformation.

Precision medicine has increased the volume and complexity of workloads, with pathology labs worldwide facing a shortage of skilled staff. Within the diagnosis and staging of cancer, pathology information is combined with data from multiple disciplines, including radiology, pathology and genomics, to deliver the diagnostic precision required for personalised care. There is an urgent need to combine operational efficiency, team-working, expertise sharing and enterprise-wide informatics to make the most of a pathology lab’s human resources.

Through innovations and partnerships, Philips integrates intelligence and automation into its precision diagnosis portfolio, including smart diagnostic systems, integrated workflows with the aim to transform departmental operations, informatics that enhance diagnostic confidence, and care pathways that allow medical professionals to tailor treatment to individual patients. By developing and integrating AI-enabled applications, the company aims to enhance the ability to turn data into actionable insights and drive the right care in the right sequence at the right time.