Lab Soft News had a recent reference to an article on reflux disease, Barrett's esophagus, long considered a pre-neoplastic condition and actual observed rates of carcinoma in Barrett's esophagus.  

Many GI pathologists, including myself will tell you "we see a ton of Barrett's" but few adenocarcinomas. Esophagectomies are vanishly rare. Very uncommon specimen so from my own personal experience I think these numbers are accurate.  For better or for worse this could result in fewer "screening" biopsies...

Will see if endoscopists endorse...

Double and Jumbo Slide Scanning on the Leica SCN400

Wetzlar, Germany. The largest capture area of any line scanner in digital pathology is now possible with the Leica SCN400 and SCN400 F. The latest release in Leica’s Total Digital Pathology portfolio enables the digitization of very large specimens, not possible with any other line scanning digital pathology system.

This development provides a new level of flexibility in digital pathology, enabling users to scan a wide range of samples on a single system. Traditional (26 x 76 mm), double (52 x 76 mm) and now extra-large Jumbo (113 x 76 mm) slides can all be captured in either brightfield or fluorescence using the Leica SCN400 and SCN400 F scanners.

Existing users of the Leica SCN400 digital slide scanner range can benefit from being able to implement large slide scanning, without any hardware changes or physical updates to their scanners.

To view some sample large slide scans, please visit our Virtual Slide Gallery at 

http://www.leica-microsystems.com/products/digital-pathology.

Market Press Release – November 1, 2011 2:46 am – SINGAPORE – Nov 1, 2011- GE Healthcare announced today that its Omnyx(TM) Integrated Digital Pathology solution will be the virtual microscopy system for one of two educational seminars, the inaugural Hematolymphoid Course at the Department of Pathology, Singapore General Hospital. Instead of reviewing cases using traditional optical microscopes, over 60 pathologists from throughout Asia and beyond will use GE’s all-digital pathology solution during the Hematolymphoid educational workshop to review 40 cases encompassing more than 500 digital slide images. 

Dr. Tan Soo Yong, Senior Consultant, Department of Pathology Singapore General Hospital and Hematolymphoid course Director, said, “Diagnosis in haematopathology requires examination of immunostained sections. This poses a big challenge for postgraduate medical education as it is difficult to provide sufficient material for all participants. We have been able to save money and greatly expand participation in our Hematolymphoid seminar since digital microscopy eliminates the cost of creating 9,000 physical slides and makes viewing pathology images much more accessible than a microscope could.” 

Omnyx™ VL4 Whole Slide Scanner created the 500 digital slide images used for the conference and participants will use 18 Omnyx™ Pathologist Workstations to organize and review them. 

“We are pleased to partner with Singapore General Hospital as part of our sponsorship of its inaugural Hematolymphoid & 2nd Breast Pathology Course. The benefits of integrated digital pathology extend far beyond education. The Omnyx Integrated Digital Pathology system is designed to increase access to sub-specialist care, greatly increase pathologist productivity, and reduce read-time, particularly in remote locations.” said John Chee, General Manager of GE Healthcare IT, Asia Pacific. 

Omnyx’s breakthrough technology extends beyond slide digitization and includes anenterprise software solution to enable pathology departments to improve access to pathologists regardless of where a patient or specialist is located. This results in improved turnaround times and greater collaboration among specialists. 

“The Omnyx Integrated Digital Pathology solution was designed by pathologists, for pathologists and built from the ground up with help from a global team of collaborators with the overall goal of digitizing the pathologist’s process with intuitive and efficient solutions. We are looking forward to the reaction of pathologists attending the two seminars on the Omnyx Integrated Digital Pathology solution and image quality,” said Rajiv Enand, Sr. Vice President of Business Development, Omnyx. 

Omnyx’s complete product line will include scanners, workstations, algorithms, servers, and digital archives for storage. The Omnyx Integrated Digital Pathology solution is designed to integrate what are often stand-alone products into a comprehensive platform. It combines high speed, high quality whole slide scanning with scalable information technology products to create a solution that addresses the reliability and process requirements of pathologists and enables single and multi-site organizations to benefit from increased efficiencies and greater access to peers in the field. 

By digitizing the slides and corresponding workflow, the Omnyx solution is intended to do what a traditional microscope cannot — unite an entire pathology department and improve collaboration, communication and efficiency. 

About GE 
GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world’s toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, medical imaging, and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, please visit the company's website at http://www.ge.com.

About GE Healthcare 
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.

Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to servinghealthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at http://www.gehealthcare.com.

For our latest news, please visit http://newsroom.gehealthcare.com
Follow us on Twitter @GEHealthcareIT

About Omnyx
Omnyx, LLC (www.omnyx.com) is a joint venture of GE Healthcare and UPMC (the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) with locations in Pittsburgh, PA and Piscataway, NJ. The company is developing an Integrated Digital Pathology system allowing pathology departments worldwide to move to an all-digital workflow. Their products include image management, workflow automation, image analysis algorithms and system integration along with a family of high speed whole-slide scanners. Close collaboration with pathologists at UPMC and other institutions along with their relationship with GE Healthcare allows Omnyx to focus its innovation on the needs of anatomic pathologists worldwide. Omnyx products are currently in development and are for research use only. They are not for use in diagnostic procedures.

Leading LIS and digital pathology companies with collaborative effort for end-to-end LIS integration with scanning technology for workflow support.  Barriers to entry and use keep falling.

MILFORD, Mass. and VISTA, Calif., Oct. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Psyche Systems Corporation and Aperio announced today that the companies have formed a strategic relationship which will provide customers an end-to-end integrated LIS and Digital Pathology solution. The collaboration will provide seamless, bi-directional data and image sharing to support a multitude of workflows in the Pathology Laboratory.

The integration of Aperio's Spectrum(TM) Healthcare data management system and Psyche Systems' WindoPath Anatomic Pathology solution will enable single sign-on and data transfer in support of the Pathologist's workflow--improving the efficiency and quality of pathology services that laboratories are able to provide.

The companies are launching the alliance at the Pathology Visions Conference, October 30 - November 2, 2011. Attendees of the conference are welcome to visit both companies on the exhibit floor to learn more about the relationship. Psyche Systems is in booth #101; Aperio is in booth #210.

About Psyche Systems Corporation

Since 1976, Psyche Systems has delivered products that help laboratories of all sizes run more efficiently and cost-effectively. Psyche's WindoPath AP system, Clinical LIS, e.Outreach, EMR Internet Interface, MicroPath, and SBB blood bank software deliver a completely integrated solution for all areas and types of laboratories. Psyche's products are fully integrated or stand-alone and support full automation, integration with instruments, clinical and back-office systems, Outreach and Meaningful Use initiatives.

For more information, visit http://www.psychesystems.com.

About Aperio

Aperio is the leading provider of digital pathology solutions in hospitals, reference labs, and pharmaceutical and research institutions across the world. Today, our affordable and complete product portfolio improves patient care by enhancing quality assurance, delivering more efficient workflows, facilitating access to new and more targeted therapies, and improving pathologists' skills via lifelong education. Our comprehensive product line features our ScanScope® scanners, Spectrum(TM) image management (PACS) software, SecondSlide® slide sharing service for pathology, and image analysis tools and services. Aperio's products are FDA cleared for specific clinical applications, and are intended for research and education use for other applications. For clearance updates and more information please visit http://www.aperio.com.

SOURCE Psyche Systems Corporation

Introduction: The increasing availability of whole slide imaging (WSI) data sets (digital slides) from glass slides offers new opportunities for the development of computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) algorithms. With the all-digital pathology workflow that these data sets will enable in the near future, literally millions of digital slides will be generated and stored. Consequently, the field in general and pathologists, specifically, will need tools to help extract actionable information from this new and vast collective repository. Methods: To address this limitation, we designed and implemented a tool (dCORE) to enable the systematic capture of image tiles with constrained size and resolution that contain desired histopathologic features. Results: In this communication, we describe a user-friendly tool that will enable pathologists to mine digital slides archives to create image microarrays (IMAs). IMAs are to digital slides as tissue microarrays (TMAs) are to cell blocks. Thus, a single digital slide could be transformed into an array of hundreds to thousands of high quality digital images, with each containing key diagnostic morphologies and appropriate controls. Current manual digital image cut-and-paste methods that allow for the creation of a grid of images (such as an IMA) of matching resolutions are tedious. Conclusion: The ability to create IMAs representing hundreds to thousands of vetted morphologic features has numerous applications in education, proficiency testing, consensus case review, and research. Lastly, in a manner analogous to the way conventional TMA technology has significantly accelerated in situ studies of tissue specimens use of IMAs has similar potential to significantly accelerate CAD algorithm development.

Keywords: IMA, SIVQ, TMA, WSI

Jason Hipp¹, Jerome Cheng¹, Liron Pantanowitz², Stephen Hewitt³, Yukako Yagi⁴, James Monaco⁵, Anant Madabhushi⁵, Jaime Rodriguez-canales³, Jeffrey Hanson³, Sinchita Roy-Chowdhuri³, Armando C Filie³, Michael D Feldman⁶, John E Tomaszewski⁶, Natalie C Shih⁶, Victor Brodsky⁷, Giuseppe Giaccone⁸, Michael R Emmert-Buck³, Ulysses J Balis^1
1 Department of Pathology, University of Michigan, M4233A Medical Science I, 1301 Catherine, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-0602, USA
² Department of Pathology, Division of Pathology Informatics, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, UPMC Shadyside Hospital, Suite 201, 5150 Centre Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, USA
³ National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Laboratory of Pathology, Advanced Technology Center, 8717 Grovemont Circle, Gaithersburg, MD 20877, USA
⁴ MGH Pathology Imaging and Communication, Technology (PICT) Center, 101 Merrimac Street, Boston, MA 02114-4719, USA
⁵ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, 599 Taylor Road, Piscataway, NJ, USA
⁶ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perlman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvanaia, Division of Surgical Pathology, 6 Founders, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
⁷ Weill Cornell Medical College, 575 Lexington Avenue, # 312, New York, NY 10022, USA
⁸ National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Medical Oncology 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

How to cite this article: Hipp J, Cheng J, Pantanowitz L, Hewitt S, Yagi Y, Monaco J, Madabhushi A, Rodriguez-canales J, Hanson J, Roy-Chowdhuri S, Filie AC, Feldman MD, Tomaszewski JE, Shih NC, Brodsky V, Giaccone G, Emmert-Buck MR, Balis UJ. Image microarrays (IMA): Digital pathology's missing tool. J Pathol Inform 2011;2:47 How to cite this URL: Hipp J, Cheng J, Pantanowitz L, Hewitt S, Yagi Y, Monaco J, Madabhushi A, Rodriguez-canales J, Hanson J, Roy-Chowdhuri S, Filie AC, Feldman MD, Tomaszewski JE, Shih NC, Brodsky V, Giaccone G, Emmert-Buck MR, Balis UJ. Image microarrays (IMA): Digital pathology's missing tool. J Pathol Inform [serial online] 2011 [cited 2011 Oct 31];2:47. Available from: http://www.jpathinformatics.org/text.asp?2011/2/1/47/86829 Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DigitalPathologyBlog

TUCSON, Ariz., Oct. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. (Ventana), a member of the Roche Group, received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the VENTANA Companion Algorithm HER2 (4B5) for image analysis applications with associated VIRTUOSO software and iScan Coreo Au scanner. Ventana is now the only company with a complete workflow solution for determining HER2 (4B5) expression in breast cancer patients.

The application assists the pathologist in the detection and semi-quantitative measurement of HER2 (4B5) protein in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded normal and neoplastic tissue. While the pathologist is still the ultimate authority in scoring HER2 (4B5) stains, the image analysis application helps ensure consistency and objectivity in interpretation.

When used with the VENTANA PATHWAY anti-HER2 (4B5) Rabbit Monoclonal Primary Antibody, it is indicated for use as an aid in the assessment of breast cancer patients for whom HERCEPTIN (Trastuzumab) treatment is being considered. The 510(k) clearance covers all components of the workflow including the 4B5 clone, slide stainer, detection systems, software and scanner.

"The addition of the Companion Algorithm for HER2 (4B5) to the VENTANA portfolio of products gives pathologists an important tool for assessing HER2 (4B5) expression in breast cancer patients," said Dr. Steve Burnell, lifecycle leader for advanced workflow. "Ventana continues to lead the industry with its commitment to providing customers a complete, optimized solution – including stainers, reagents, scanners and digital pathology software applications - that provides accurate and efficient testing results."

Ventana also received FDA clearance for the digital read application that allows the pathologist to view HER2 (4B5) stained slides as images on a computer monitor with VIRTUOSO software and iScan Coreo Au scanner.

About Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. ("VMSI") (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY), a member of the Roche Group, innovates and manufactures instruments and reagents that automate tissue processing and slide staining for cancer diagnostics. VENTANA solutions are used in clinical histology and drug development research laboratories worldwide. The company's "Smart Systems" – intuitive, integrated staining and workflow management platforms that optimize laboratory efficiencies to reduce errors – support diagnosis and inform treatment decisions for anatomic pathology professionals. Together with Roche, VMSI is driving personalized medicine through accelerated drug discovery and the development of "companion diagnostics" to identify the patients most likely to respond favorably to specific therapies. Visit http://www.ventana.com to learn more.

Ventana products are for in vitro diagnostic use for specific applications, and are research use only for other applications.

VENTANA, the VENTANA logo, PATHWAY, Companion Algorithm, VIRTUOSO and BenchMark are trademarks of Roche.