The Digital Pathology Association (DPA) is a new non-profit organization formed to advance the education and use of digital pathology applications in health care and define best practices for the industry. Dirk Soenksen, President of the DPA, spoke to DOTmed about the organization and about the digital pathology field.

Soenksen explained that the field of pathology involves examining tissue and cells on glass slides under a microscope to determine, for example, if the cells are cancerous or not. Pathologists are critical to the early detection of cancer. There are literally hundreds of millions of glass slides prepared annually for biopsies and related procedures--a very labor intensive field involving hours every day looking at these slides under the microscope. Digital pathology has transformed pathology in a manner similar to radiology, where the use of old-fashioned film X-rays are giving way to digital radiology and PACS (picture archiving and communication systems).

In a digital pathology environment, glass slides are digitized and the resulting digital slide images are viewed on a computer monitor. Digital slides can be shared via a network, including the Internet, obviating the need to send glass slides through the mail. Computer programs, in the form of image analysis algorithms, can be used to analyze digital slides and perform complicated tasks-counting cells, finding cancer cells, or other rare events such as small microorganisms associated with infectious diseases. "The ability to digitize slides allows the whole field of pathology to achieve new heights in terms of efficiency, automation, accuracy, objectivity, which all increase value to the patient," Soenksen says.
Soenksen is also the chief executive officer of Aperio, a company that provides systems and services for digital pathology. "Aperio is the pioneer and leader in the emerging digital pathology market. We've been at this for about ten years, and the field is now emerging to the point where going digital is no longer a question of if, but when. The DPA was formed because some of the barriers to adoption are clearly understood. There is a sense that if we bring together resources from industry and expertise from the pathology community, we can overcome some of these barriers more quickly than any one company can on its own."

The DPA is interested in accelerating adoption of digital pathology, and the number one obstacle to adoption is education, Soenksen points out. "People aren't going to adopt what they don't understand. So broadly educating pathologists and others about what digital pathology can do for them will lead to adoption. The DPA is a nonprofit with a focus on education. There are certain standards, for example, a common file format, that if followed by everyone will accelerate adoption. The DPA is focused on education, standards, and best practices that everyone can agree upon. We educate the market and everyone benefits because the market grows. The end-user benefits because they can use digital pathology to increase quality and efficiency, which can lead to increased revenue and in some cases, increases in diagnostic accuracy."

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