Motic Digital Pathology this week announced the global launch of its telepathology program, which allows pathologists to connect with labs and patients around the world. 

The company says the platform supports most slide formats on the market, allowing for multi-site management, international pathology and other collaborative projects.

WHY IT MATTERS

The cloud-based platform allows hospital users to create cases from scanned whole slide images. It directly integrates with any MoticEasyScan scanner, according to the company, and is cross-compatible with most other WSIs as well. Users can then assign the case to an expert in a relevant subspecialty, uploading the slide details to the cloud.

As the consultant, a specialist can collaborate remotely with referring hospitals using the MoticFlow platform. They can leave annotations on specific parts of the slide, invite experts for a second opinion or forward the case to another consultant.

Users can also securely store cases in the cloud, said the vendor, and can automate case-information entry using hospital and laboratory information systems.

Since 2018, the American Society for Clinical Pathology's Partners for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Initiative has used MoticFlow to connect hospitals, primarily in Africa, with pathology experts in the United States. 

"Having MoticFlow as a telepathology platform was a game-changer for our partners in Yangon, Myanmar," said Dr. Jane E. Brock, chief of breast pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in a statement.

"To be able to easily access the subspecialty expertise here at BWH has given the team confidence and ability to diagnose difficult and rare diseases. For us, we've really appreciated being able to share our expertise and support them in accurately diagnosing challenging and frequently unusual cases," said Brock.

THE LARGER TREND

Even before the recent swell in telehealth prompted by the COVID-19 crisis, remote-analysis tools such as telepathology were invoked to share clinical expertise across geographical lines. 

In 2012, experts were pointing to such services as key contributors to cost-saving and resource-maximizing measures. 

As the coronavirus pandemic has necessitated social distancing measures, companies are continuing to invest in cloud-based information-sharing technologies. Just this week, Change Healthcare announced the acquisition of Nucleus.io, a cloud-native imaging platform, to complete its own platform furthering collaboration among physicians.

ON THE RECORD

"We are very excited to finally introduce MoticFlow to the global pathology community: it's been a core part of Motic's consultation projects in Asia for the last decade, and we have fine-tuned its workflow to meet the needs of the global market," said Motic Director of Digital Pathology Nicholas Chan, in a press statement.

"With the challenges faced by our colleagues around the world from the pandemic, it quickly became our top priority to make the platform available to support and empower pathologists through these trying times," he said.

Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Twitter: @kjercich
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.