Mayo Clinic Launches Imaging Solution to Enable Digital Pathology Across the Enterprise

• Published Month : Friday, 26 Jun 2020 10:00 am

In support of Mayo Clinic's digital health and practice transformation initiatives, the Mayo Clinic Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology has initiated an enterprise-wide digital pathology implementation of the Sectra digital slide review and image storage and management system to enable digital pathology.

"As Mayo Clinic continues to lead the transformation of health care delivery and accessibility, the laboratories and pathology practice play an essential role," says William Morice, II, M.D., Ph.D., president of Mayo Clinic Laboratories and chair of the department. "This system implementation will elevate our pathology practice by enabling digital collaboration among pathologists throughout the Mayo Clinic system and, ultimately, Mayo Clinic Laboratories clients around the world. In the near future, our pathologists will be able to virtually collaborate with colleagues anywhere to provide answers to the most complex pathology cases in order to help our partners deliver the best patient care." 

In collaboration with Sectra, a digital slide review and image storage and management system has been implemented for the Mayo Clinic practice in Rochester for the first phase of the roll out. Once proof of concept, system testing, and configuration activities are complete, the digital pathology solution will be introduced gradually to Mayo Clinic departments throughout Rochester, Florida, and Arizona, as well as the Mayo Clinic Health System. The new digital intake process will be piloted with a domestic Mayo Clinic Laboratories client later this year. 

"We are confident the Sectra digital pathology solution will positively impact patient care by improving access and availability of our patients' pathology material in a digital form, and facilitating enterprise-wide collaboration and integration of innovative technologies," says Taofic Mounajjed, M.D., Mayo Clinic pathologist and one of the leaders of the digital pathology initiative. "Our pathologists and allied staff are looking forward to the opportunities that digital pathology will bring in transforming our practice by improving operational efficiency."

Last year, the Mayo Clinic Division of Anatomic Pathology performed nearly 200,000 pathology consultations in support of the Mayo Clinic practice and more than 1,100 health care organizations around the world. Specializing in rare and complex pathology cases across all medical subspecialties, the new solution will enable the pathology practice to enact additional operational efficiencies, leverage image sharing and collaboration features, and build a digital pathology image archive to advance educational, research, and artificial intelligence and machine learning initiatives.

"We look forward to working with Mayo Clinic as we understand the critical need of delivering a solution that will allow pathologists to easily review cases, collaborate, and make primary diagnoses, regardless of their geographic location, all in the best interests of patient care," says Mikael Anden, president of Sectra, Inc.