The challenge
Pathology connects science and medicine. It is defined as the study of disease and is vital in patient care, diagnostics, treatment, and disease prevention. At the core of what most pathologists do is analyze samples and images. Investigating these for signs of disease, counting cells, measuring tumors, looking for patterns, and so much more.
The rising rate of diseases, like cancer, increases the demand for pathologists. With more disease, come more samples to be analyzed. While workloads are increasing the number of pathologists are not. Less medical doctors are specializing in the field. In the United States between 2007 and 2017 the number of medical professionals specializing as pathologists decreased by 17.5%.
Another challenge arises from the fact that current tools and methods available to pathologists for image analysis are not supporting them in meeting these increasing demands. Current methods are often manual, therefore time consuming, and prone to subjectivity.
Although pathologists are the best experts in tissue analysis, there are substantial differences in how different pathologists evaluate the same sample. An urgent need continues to rise for tools that not only provide unbiased and accurate results but also which are easy to deploy in order to assist in lessening the burden on pathologists, hospitals, and ultimately patients.
Analog tools in a digital world