Sectra Launches Solution for Digital Primary Diagnostics in Pathology – Enabling More Efficient Cancer Care

Sectra (http://www.sectra.com) (STO:SECTB) is launching a solution for storing, viewing and sharing digital pathology images. The solution enables more efficient cancer care by enhancing collaboration and sharing of images between pathologists and radiologists. It will be showcased on HIMSS in Chicago, April 13-16, one of the largest congresses for medical IT.

With Sectra’s solution, pathologists will be able to review cases digitally on a computer screen, enabling the pathologists to replace the microscope. The digital format adds new tools at the pathologists’ fingertips and also allows samples to be sent easily to other pathologists to share the workload or for specialist consultations, thereby facilitating quicker and more accurate diagnosis.

"Many pathology departments stand on the threshold of adopting digital pathology to benefit from major health and financial gains and quality improvements throughout the cancer care chain. With 20 years’ experience in the medical IT field and having been a pioneer in the digitization of radiology, Sectra can help pathology departments fully utilize the benefits of digitization,” says Marie Ekström, President of Sectra Imaging IT Solutions and Executive Vice President of Sectra AB.

European and Scandinavian pathology departments are in the process of digitizing their work, but nonetheless, only a few hospitals have implemented digital pathology solutions. In the US, digital pathology for primary diagnostics is still pending FDA approval.

Efficient multi-disciplinary team meetings through common platform

Pathology and radiology are at the center of cancer diagnosis and their collective findings are the basis for patient treatment and its outcome. Both disciplines are highly dependent on adequate clinical information in order to provide accurate and useful reports for the clinician, surgeon, oncologist or patient. Despite their joint responsibility for cancer diagnosis, the exchange of information between the two groups is often very limited as the radiology and pathology workflows are usually completely different.

Sectra’s solution for digital pathology is built on the same platform as Sectra’s radiology PACS, the solution for managing radiology images. The common technical platform enables closer collaboration between the two specialties, sometimes referred to as integrated diagnostics, facilitating, for example, more efficient multi-disciplinary team meetings.

For further information about Sectras new solution for digital pathology (http://www.sectra.com/medical/pathology/index.html)

Initial report from two of a dozen concluded pilot installations (http://www.sectra.com/medical/pathology/articles/Experiences_from_adopting_digital_pathology.html)

About Sectra

Sectra was founded in 1978 and has its roots in Linköping University in Sweden. The company’s business operation includes cutting-edge products and services within the niche segments of medical systems and secure communication systems. Sectra has offices in 12 countries and operates through partners worldwide. Sales in the 2013/2014 fiscal year totaled SEK 853 million. The Sectra share is quoted on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm AB exchange. For more information, visit www.sectra.com (http://www.sectra.comIn)

In the medical market, Sectra develops and sells IT systems and services for radiology and other image-intensive departments, orthopaedics and rheumatology. More than 1,700 hospitals, clinics and imaging centers worldwide use the systems daily. This makes Sectra one of the world-leading companies for handling digital radiology images. In Scandinavia, Sectra is the market leader with more than 50% of all film-free installations. Sectra’s systems have been installed in North America, Scandinavia and most major countries in Europe and the Far East.

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