Digital Pathology

In recent decades, we have witnessed unprecedented growth in the field of pathology, bringing with it a concurrent increase in complexity, along with extraordinary new challenges. Advances in molecular-genetic understanding have unlocked the world of precision medicine. The spheres of medicine and research are now tasked with a mandate to see and understand disease at the level of the individual molecules that drive the disease process, and to target our therapies to the molecular heart of the problem.

Pathologists, long accustomed to seeing the world through the magnified lenses of our microscopes, are now asked to go even deeper and see the world of disease at an even higher level of magnification. This “zoomed-in” approach, though, adds a level of data and of complexity that expands almost exponentially. 
Just as our microscopes need a new lens to reach this higher level of detail and perspective, our eyes and our minds require special assistance to cope with this level of intricacy. New approaches to computation and digitization provide that needed, higher-power lens.

Author: Kathrina Alexander, M.D., Senior Medical Laboratory Director and Director of Pathology, IQVIA Laboratories

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