Vancouver, BC, March 19, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cancer informatics and digital pathology workflow solution provider Inspirata®, Inc. announced today that its workflow solution-as-a-service supported the first-ever 100 percent digital read used to render a primary diagnosis on a suspected cancer case on March 1, 2018. Inspirata’s workflow software was integrated with an FDA-cleared pixel pipeline to enable the digital sign-out process to occur using whole slide images.
This historic accomplishment comes less than one year after the first whole slide image scanner received FDA clearance for primary diagnostic use. The diagnosis was made by Anil Parwani, MD, PhD, MBA, at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) in Columbus, Ohio.
Inspirata began working with the OSUCCC – James in July 2016 to improve the cancer diagnostic workflow. The engagement entails the implementation of Inspirata’s end-to-end digital pathology workflow solution with a fully staffed scan center, on-site support and personalized training for the institution’s pathologists to help them prepare to render diagnoses using FDA-cleared whole slide images in conjunction with Inspirata’s Digital Pathology Cockpit.
“Signing out solely using digital slides to render a primary diagnosis outside of research undertakings is an important achievement, and one that should help advance the field of pathology,” says Parwani, who leads the digital pathology project for the OSUCCC – James. Parwani also serves as vice chair and director of anatomic pathology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine Department of Pathology.
The OSUCCC – James conducted a validation study following guidelines published by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) to ensure parity between the analog and digital modalities. The CAP validation study requires participating pathologists to diagnose the same set of cases twice—first using ocular microscopy, which is the traditional way cancer and other diseases are diagnosed (i.e., viewing biopsied tissue on glass slides through a microscope lens) and the second time, following a washout period, using the digital whole slide images to render a diagnosis. The findings were then compared to determine that the digital reads were comparable to the microscopic reads.
“This is a huge sea change for the field of pathology, and we are proud to be part of history in the making” says Inspirata CEO Satish Sanan. “Moving from an analog to a digital workflow, will bring about tremendous improvement in efficiency and accuracy, which will undoubtedly lead to better patient outcomes. Everyone who has been involved deserve congratulations and thanks.”
About Inspirata, Inc.
Inspirata®, Inc. offers the most comprehensive cancer diagnostics workflow solution available for precision diagnosis today. The solution, which employs a unique “solution-as-a-service” business and delivery model, accelerates anatomic and molecular pathology workflows and facilitates whole slide imaging and image analytics, prognostic and predictive assays, remote consultations and tumor boards. This comprehensive solution includes an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) to help to solve interoperability issues and a Natural Language Processing Engine (NLP) for structuring data. Inspirata amalgamates this structured data into a central multi-institutional and multi-modal big data cancer repository for clinical, research and educational purposes. Its use will extend to physicians, patients, researchers and pharma among others. This comprehensive solution facilitates a modern precision diagnosis to build a strong foundation for precision medicine. For more information, please visit www.inspirata.com or contact info@inspirata.com.
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