Dr. Kirk Wojno represented PathNet at the 10th annual Uruguayan Urology Conference on March 25th in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. At the conference, Uruguay’s first clinical validation study of a fully digital diagnostic platform was announced. The study will be performed on the Lumea BxLink™ digital platform.
This study is a collaboration between PathNet, Motic, surgical and medical oncologists, and laboratory specialists from various institutions in Montevideo. The study will involve 50 patients’ tissue to compare digital sign-out and traditional pathology methods to validate that there is no loss of accuracy or quality when using digital platforms.
PathNet has been working with Motic to get one of their whole-slide imaging systems, the EasyScan Pro 6, into a Uruguayan lab in Montevideo. After an initial demo of the technology, Uruguayan lab owner Gabriel Ordoqui, demonstrated satisfaction with the system as well as explained what excites him most about the possibilities this new system brings.
“Our experience with this platform has been very good from a tissue processing point of view. It has made the practical part of the processing much easier for us”, Ordoqui recounted, “By discontinuing the conventional way of handling a 12-sample tissue biopsy, it allows us to make those 12-samples in two blocks which makes the task much easier”.
This digital platform also brings optimized tissue utilization and conservation. Raul García a histotechnician who participated in the demo stated, “the samples that come in on the BxBoard© and BxChip© have less wearing and fragmentation of the tissue than there normally would be when transported in the conventional way.”
Dr. Laura Mouro, a Uruguayan urologist stated: “I can assure you that this is here to stay. When the urologists of Uruguay see that this is something good, they will demand that they have it.”