DigiPatICS: Digital Pathology Transformation of the Catalan Health Institute Network of 8 Hospitals—Planification, Implementation, and Preliminary Results

Abstract

Complete digital pathology transformation for primary histopathological diagnosis is a challenging yet rewarding endeavor. Its advantages are clear with more efficient workflows, but there are many technical and functional difficulties to be faced. The Catalan Health Institute (ICS) has started its DigiPatICS project, aiming to deploy digital pathology in an integrative, holistic, and comprehensive way within a network of 8 hospitals, over 168 pathologists, and over 1 million slides each year. We describe the bidding process and the careful planning that was required, followed by swift implementation in stages. The purpose of the DigiPatICS project is to increase patient safety and quality of care, improving diagnosis and the efficiency of processes in the pathological anatomy departments of the ICS through process improvement, digital pathology, and artificial intelligence tools.

Crossing the Andes: Challenges and opportunities for digital pathology in Latin America

“…In DP, precision and ease of use are essential, so the mouse designed for medical imaging often has an ergonomic shape that reduces user burden during extended use, promoting comfort for pathologists. 45 , 46…”

Engaging European society at the forefront of cancer research and care

“…Two European projects towards this aim were mentioned by Dr Carneiro as valuable examples of digital pathology infrastructure implementation. The Catalan Health Institute project DigiPatICS has initiated a digital pathology network across eight Catalan hospitals to integrate digital pathology and AI to improve the quality and reproducibility of diagnoses [ 38 ]. IPATIMUP has implemented a new digital pathology workflow that might be easily adopted by any pathology laboratory [ 39 ].…”

Cutting-edge technology and automation in the pathology laboratory

“…Currently, different integrated digital pathology systems are being implemented around the world, providing clear examples of the feasibility of the implementation of digital pathology workflows both in small and large pathology departments supporting large and distributed health care organizations with complex patient demographic profiles [ 33 – 35 ]; also, official guidelines have been published [ 36 ].…”