ABOVE: Digital pathology speeds up critical diagnosis. Jackson Proskow reports
TORONTO – Lakeridge Health in Oshawa is stepping up efforts to reduce biopsy result wait times by introducing a new technology into its diagnosis arsenal.
The Durham Region health centre has begun using digital pathology as a way to speed up biopsy results for patients which have thus far resulted in drastic improvements.
Health officials say wait times have dropped from about four to six weeks to about four to six days.
Instead of shipping a slide across the province which could take weeks, the information is digitally uploaded into the University Health Network system where more than 60 pathologists have access to the results.
A specialist who may be out of the country can now have access to the information simply by connecting to the internet on his or her laptop.
Officials at Lakeridge Health say similar to how there are no more films for MRIs or CT scans, there won’t be slides for pathology in the future.
The health centre recently released a Youtube video explaining the innovation and how it works.
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