Our team’s mission is to develop digital pathology tools to enable researchers, collaborators and expert physicians to find answers to research questions — simple and complex — using the most sophisticated technology available.
We work diligently every day to prove just what a difference digital pathology can make at the OSUCCC – James and across The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. It’s truly changing the way we deliver health care.
Digital pathology services we offer
The digital pathology process begins with scanning conventional glass slides and creating a digital file of the specimen on that slide. We can convert as many as 120 traditional glass slides into high-resolution images in less than two minutes.
The services and benefits this allows us to offer patients can’t be overemphasized. Some of these services include:
Fast diagnosis
Our team is turning glass slides into digital images around the clock, scanning slides almost as soon as they are created. The ability of pathologists to instantly access digital slide images rather than wait for the delivery of physical objects makes for faster diagnoses for patient care.
Easy consultation
When second opinions are sought—either by our pathologists or from our pathologists—digital images save days of waiting. Images are available for instant consultations rather than having to wait days for physical objects to travel to a distant destination.
Because consultation is so much easier with digital, it happens more often, improving the quality of diagnosis in challenging cases. Digital images also allow us to provide our top-quality diagnostic services to patients in underserved areas here in the Columbus area, around Ohio and anywhere worldwide.
A vast repository of information
Our repository of nearly 3 million whole-slide images, stretching back over a decade, covers nearly every tissue and disease type imaginable.
These curated images serve pathologists’ need for instant and dependable access to a patient’s prior cases. They also have valuable educational and research uses as well as help develop and test AI-driven diagnostic aids.
Qualitative image analysis
Digital images can be interrogated using computer algorithms, providing faster, more comprehensive and more accurate diagnostic information than previously possible. We are among the first worldwide to deploy this technology clinically.
Computer-assisted diagnosis
A new generation of powerful and sophisticated artificial intelligence-based algorithms can analyze whole slide images and confirm or enhance pathologist reviews. These tools will allow us to provide a digital second opinion for every case.
We’re currently exploring these diagnostic support tools to predict outcomes, choose better treatment courses and provide the very best care possible to our patients.