As well as the diagnosis of tissue from patients with cancer indications, the pathology department at Institut Curie evaluates thousands of test samples from experimental cancer research programs worldwide to gain a better understanding of the causes and mechanisms of diseases at both cellular and molecular level. These new insights may give rise to new diagnostic approaches and therapeutic treatments.
Currently, Institut Curie produces and diagnoses more than 200,000 glass pathology slides every year using a microscope. Digitalization of the pathology workflow could ease this logistical burden and enable new ways of working, such as real-time collaboration with peers and creation of a virtual network across the globe. Moreover, in cancer research, digital histopathology information can now, for example, be added to biology data and this opens up new ways to mine information from tumor tissue for further data analysis.
"Digitalization of pathology will enable us to keep momentum going to accelerate cancer research and, in the end, improve patient care," says Xavier Sastre-Garau, director of the Biopathology Department of Institut Curie.
"Philips' digital pathology solution is empowering Institut Curie to realize a single virtual laboratory that offers new opportunities for intensive collaboration," says Guido du Pree, vice president of Marketing & Sales for Philips Digital Pathology Solutions.
To support its cancer research, Insitut Curie has completed installation of the fully integrated Philips Digital Pathology Solution with ultrafast scanners at its locations in Paris and St. Cloud, which are connected on-line through an image management system that provides an interface to communicate with commercially available Laboratory Information Systems (LIS). Institut Curie benefited for this acquisition from the support of the National Cancer Institute, SiRIC grant with reference "INCa-DGOS-4654".
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