Mar 22, 2013 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
X Prize organizers want to encourage the creation of a personal diagnostic device that can do medical laboratory-quality testing in patients’ homes
Pathologists and clinical laboratory scientists with an inventive streak have the opportunity to win a $10-million prize, but only if they can develop an effective portable diagnostic device like the “Tricorder” featured in the original Star Trek television series of the 1960s.
This $10-million competition is called the Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE. Its sponsors want to stimulate innovation and integration of precision diagnostic technologies, according to the Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE website. (more…)
Jan 7, 2013 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Existing unstructured anatomic pathology reports would directly benefit from novel word disambiguation approach under development at MIT
Unstructured medical laboratory data is widely recognized to be one significant hurdle on the path toward the universal electronic health record (EHR). This is particularly true for anatomic pathology reports. Despite advances in synoptic reporting, to date, few pathology groups and clinical laboratories have developed ways to resolve this problem.
Now there is news of a different approach toward unstructured healthcare data. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a system for algorithmically distinguishing words with multiple possible meanings. The new approach could help find useful information buried in electronic medical records (EHR). (more…)
May 23, 2012 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Pathology
Goal of unique collaboration is to give physicians a more accurate way to diagnose and treat many types of cancer
Two noteworthy healthcare organizations will collaborate with IBM (NYSE: IBM) to explore how IBM’s Watson can be used to help physicians deliver improved outcomes to patients. The collaboration involves one major health insurer and a prominent academic medical center in Los Angeles.
WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP) will interact with oncology experts at the Cedars-Sinai Cancer Institute in Los Angeles to “educate” and program Watson as a physician’s assistant. What makes this particularly interesting for anatomic pathologists is the potential of this project to marry advances in molecular diagnostics with artificial intelligence in ways that allow physicians to diagnose different cancers earlier and with greater accuracy.
In its story about this development, the Los Angeles Times reported that, per IBM, physicians at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute will be the first to use the Watson technology.
The institute’s doctors will serve as advisers and lend expertise to help shape the initiative to develop effective ways to use Watson. “Cedars Sinai will provide the guidelines and insights to put into Watson,” stated Manoj Saxena, General Manager of IBM Watson Solutions, in a story published by Forbes Magazine.
Watson is IBM’s computing system that incorporates deep question answering technology that allows it to search quickly through vast amounts of data, then process it and analyze it in a way similar to that of the human brain. The Watson system is capable of processing the equivalent of about 200 million pages of data in about three seconds, Forbes reported.
(more…)
Jun 20, 2011 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Such cognitive robots may also find a role in clinical pathology laboratories
Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers might soon have new cognitive robotic tools to help them diagnose disease. Engineers and emergency medicine specialists at Vanderbilt University have joined together to develop a system of cognitive robots that would reduce the wait times physicians and staff experience in America’s emergency departments (ED).
These cognitive robots would be programmed to perform basic tests and deliver results on patients. By handling these functions, the Vanderbilt development team believes that their cognitive robots would reduce the workload on triage nurses and speed the process of treating patients in the emergency room. (more…)
