Case Studies

The number of practising anatomic pathologists is falling globally, and pathology departments need to find new ways to do more with less. Digital Pathology can provide a flexible platform to improve workflow efficiency while also ensuring patient safety and quality medical care.

Cytogenetics has played a pivotal role in clinical and cancer diagnostics for over 60 years. The use of genomic technologies speeds targeted genetic analysis - but can high throughput automation in the cytogenetics laboratory broaden traditional approaches?

Digital Pathology can offer agility to Anatomic Pathology departments who are invested in improving efficiencies and high levels of quality while quickly responding to the increasing pressure of on-demand pathology services.

In partnership with the National Consortium of Breast Centers (NCBC), Leica Biosystems’ Process & Solution Optimization team worked with several hospitals with the goal to improve the quality and efficiencies of their breast programs. Through this work, the team identified common barriers and improvement opportunities.

Leica Biosystems working in partnership with Southern Ohio Medical Center (SOMC), conducted process assessments to analyze the timeliness treatment for breast cancer patients. We identified a lack of standardized processes for conduction of imaging services and elongated time to diagnosis. The Breast Imaging and Reporting Data System (BI-RADs) is the standardized method to record findings on imaging studies.

The Leica Biosystems Process and Solutions Optimization team has partnered with Queen Elizabeth Hospital to examine how to optimize their processes to reduce turn-around-time. QEH is most interested in having slides assigned to their Pathologists earlier in the day. The Process and Solutions Optimization team identified a few changes to help recognize and monitor their goals.

Anatomic pathology has historically relied on manual systems of tracking and data collection. While many laboratory information systems (LIS) provide rudimentary data on cases, tissue blocks and slides, they fail to report data in such a way as to be useful in real-time decision making.

Southern Ohio Medical Center (SOMC) is a community hospital in Portsmouth, Ohio. Review of data pertaining to breast care delivery demonstrated opportunities for improvement. Analysis of the cadence of care processes across departments demonstrated delays in care and outmigration potential. One quality study demonstrated 10% of patients did NOT select SOMC for surgical intervention post biopsy.

The Leica Biosystems Content and Evidence team has partnered with a private, non-profit, integrated health system to optimize their new laboratory layout to ensure efficient process flow. The laboratory is most interested in ensuring their new laboratory space is structured to best handle the initial volume while allowing for increased growth over the coming years. The new histology laboratory will include routine, special, and immunohistochemistry staining.