PathNet
Powering Pathology into the Digital Age

Pathologists generally work quietly behind the scenes, often faceless to the clinicians and patients they serve. While other medical fields embrace digital transformation, pathology, for the most part, is still “old-school”—think smelly formalin hospital basements, paraffin embedded tissues, and microscopes.

PathNet, a group of forward-thinking pathologists, is harnessing the latest digital technologies to bridge the gaps between pathologists, clinicians and patients. Leveraging their digital platforms, PathNet pathologists virtually work alongside their clinical colleagues, providing timely insights and diagnostic intelligence in ways never before possible.

The urology space exemplifies just how important it is to bridge this subspecialty gap. Although prostate cancer causes more cancer deaths in men than any other, archaic lab processes have hindered progress. Formalin jars, commonly used to store and transport the specimens damage specimens and hinder genomic testing. This old method for specimen transport was designed for manual microscopic examination and not for next-gen molecular or computer-assisted diagnostics. Old-school tissue handling leads to tissue fragmentation, labeling errors, loss of orientation, and damages tissue for newer down-stream tests. When biopsy tissue is damaged in these ways, the care team loses access to critical diagnostic intelligence that might otherwise have helped guide the patient’s care.

PathNet fights these inefficiencies by utilizing the LUMEA platform which replaces formalin jars with a device called the BxBoard, a tissue collection device that accommodates six cores on a single board.

This device serves to create workflow efficiencies in the clinic, deliver high quality specimens for diagnostic analysis, and increase patient safety through RFID specimen tracking. As a result, PathNet pathologists have been able to increase their cancer detection rates and lower turnaround time for ancillary tests.

“We provide the best-in-class, concierge laboratory and diagnostic services to help our colleagues make informed decisions in directing the patient’s cancer journey,” says Adam Cole, MD, Co-founder.

Patients no longer have long wait periods to obtain a complete picture of their pathology report and genetic information. PathNet’s digital connectivity between clinic, lab and pathologists resolves bottlenecks, through a streamlined process that reduces ancillary test turnaround time by 66-83 percent depending on a variety of factors.

PathNet is pioneering the application of artificial intelligence for improved patient safety. While AI is not used for primary diagnosis, it is highly valuable as a “second-set-of eyes” for the pathologist. Used as a safety-net, AI helps ensure that PathNet pathologists never miss anything important.

Dr. Cole explains, “Right now, the AI is primarily morphology based. It’s just pattern recognition and we see it getting better and better. While we don’t rely on it to make the diagnosis, its always nice to have a second set of “eyes” backing you up.”

In its DNA, PathNet is a driver of patient-centric pathology innovation. Utilizing its unique position as a digital pathology pioneer, PathNet has partnered with multiple life science companies to help validate and develop new algorithms capable of revealing likely genetic abnormalities based on tumor morphology. Combining “old-school” histo-morphology with scaled computational power, PathNet is positioned to redefine how we think about pathology.