14 March 2024

First laboratory in the Sussex Pathology Network to introduce digital pathology

We are one of the first trusts in the South East to introduce Digital Pathology into our laboratories.

First laboratory in the Sussex Pathology Network to introduce digital pathology

Digital pathology is a major new innovation within the Cellular Pathology field, and an emerging technology that builds on over 100 years of histological techniques to create digitized images of histological glass slides, which, traditionally, had to be viewed using a microscope.

Jonathan Burgess, Advanced Clinical Practitioner said: “We are now able to reproduce high resolution images of comparable quality to those seen down the microscope. We do this through the use of digital slide scanners, and the deployment of the SECTRA Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) as used by Radiology.

Members of the Pathology team with one of the new scanners

“The digitized images allow for faster diagnosis as we have removed the need to physically transport glass slides to pathologists. It also has additional benefits of giving us the option to work remotely to aid clinical staff recruitment and retention, and the opportunity to use artificial intelligence to aid diagnosis, ensuring high quality reports to aid patient treatment.

“We are proud to be the first laboratory in the Sussex Pathology Network (SPN) to achieve this, and also one of the first in the region.”