pathology

Monitor the health of a nation: http://j.mp/4vGmOn. Or at least the iPhone-using contingent...

Clarient purchasing Applied Genomics (http://j.mp/6iagth) for $18MM: http://j.mp/5kJYv9; 5-antibody IHC test for lung cancer a centerpiece

The paradigm of depositing data and applications in the cloud has a dark side to consider: http://j.mp/7KKo4Q. Caveat cloud emptor!

Ex-CAP President Dr. Jared Schwartz joins Aperio Technologies as Chief Medical Officer: http://j.mp/45RAuu.

US House votes on the health care bill and reaches the needed 218 votes. More fun watching it on the West Coast.

Is 23andMe ahead of its time? http://j.mp/1l7w3T. Discuss.

Interesting point about image compression: Prefer JPEG because too high compression shows up readily, same in JPEG2000 looks like defocus.

CAP asks: Does #WSI lead to a precision level that is comparable to that of a light microscope or does it introduce additional imprecision?

BioImagene recommends treating #WSI as a Class I device due to a 1967 telemedicine demonstration, predating 1976 amendments.

CAP addresses the FDA panel: agnostic regarding #WSI. Recommends thorough investigation of this emerging technology.

Comment from panel: "Imaging happens in the histology lab." Specimen preparation wields tremendous influence on quality of #WSI image.

Leica joins the list of vendors with #WSI instruments: http://j.mp/3eK2GR. Maybe you've heard? 100 seconds to scan at 20X on 384 slides

A subtext to the FDA panel meeting: PMA or the 510(k) regulatory pathway for #WSI? Vendors prefer latter. Not up on PMA? http://j.mp/15GngG

Recurring issue in FDA panel discussions: The things we don't know we don't know, e.g., undetected tissue not included in WSI image.

WSI Z-scanning is a capability wanted but not practical today. Some cases may require 10's of images in a stack. Run, scanner, run!

At least 1 vendor willing to exclude specimens >12 µm thick from routine clinical pathology with WSI. No cytology, no hematopathology, too.

A phrase to remember: "reflex to glass." Looks like glass slides and light microscopes are going to stay with us for some time.

WSI system are not Class I exempt and are subject to premarket requirements. Panel asks: What about LEDs in microscopes?

After the first day of the FDA digital pathology meeting: Dynamic range repeatedly emerges as a concern. Need more bits!

Digital pathology is getting all grown up? Pictures of slide scanner from Philips at http://j.mp/MpTGl. Nice looking instrument