Laboratory Economics features PathNet’s Hillel Kahane, MD in their April 2023 edition, touching on company news and the use of AI in digital sign-out. Highlighting PathNet’s recent merging of its 3 pathology groups into a single full-service pathology laboratory and a Q&A with Dr. Kahane.
In the interview, Dr. Kahane talked about the workflow process at PathNet and his use of artificial intelligence in digital sign-out. He explained how PathNet provides Lumea’s BxBoard® to their clients for the collection of prostate tissue and uses the BxChip® in the laboratory. This enables the lab to maintain tissue orientation and place up to 18 prostate cores on a single glass slide.
Dr. Kahane stated, “Slide images are made available to PathNet’s pathologists within 24 hours via the Cloud for professional interpretation on their computer monitors or iPad Pro tablets.” This digital workflow allows Dr. Kahane and PathNet’s other pathologists to sign-out their cases more efficiently than with a traditional microscope.
When talking about his use of AI algorithms in sign-out, Dr. Kahane stated “Once I have completed my review of all the cores, I turn on an AI software algorithm to see what it highlights as being suspicious for cancer versus my annotations and Gleason Scores.” Similarly, Dr. Kahane often likens his AI use to “a second pair of eyes” after he completed his examination of the tissue.