Dr. Alba Torres, Process and Quality Director at Cepatho Laboratory in Brazil, shares her insights and experiences three years after digitizing their digital pathology workflow with Grundium’s Ocus®40 microscope slide scanner.
In the world of digital pathology, the efficiency and reliability of a scanner can make a significant difference in laboratory operations. Dr. Alba Torres and her team at Cepatho in Brazil have been leveraging the capabilities of the Ocus®40 scanner since early 2021 to enhance their pathology workflow and improve their pathology services.
Cepatho – Centro de Anatomia Patológica e Citopatologia – is a small laboratory in Brazil, processing around 100–200 slides daily. Despite their modest size, they have integrated the Grundium Ocus® scanner into their operations, scanning 50–60 slides daily, sometimes even reaching 100 slides. The lab employs a mixed workflow where some slides are examined physically, while others are reviewed digitally by remote pathologists. Before digitizing their workflow using the Ocus®40, Cepatho faced challenges with maintaining efficiency and accuracy due to manual processes and limited digital integration.
Dr. Torres highlights the reliability of the Grundium Ocus scanner, mentioning that they have experienced no technical issues in over three years and well over 30,000 scans. This flawless performance underscores the durability and dependability of the Ocus scanner, making it a valuable asset for Cepatho. Grundium’s robust support and service team ensures minimal downtime and continuous performance, as experienced by Dr. Torres and her team.
Out of all the scanners I’ve used – and I’ve used a lot – it’s the easiest one.
One significant challenge for small labs is the cost of purchasing advanced equipment, and in Brazil, this challenge is even greater due to high taxes. Dr. Torres emphasizes the excellent cost/benefit ratio of the Grundium Ocus scanners compared to other solutions; they are the most affordable scanners on the market, yet they provide immense value.
Dr. Torres shares that especially smaller labs benefit more from stepping into digital pathology:
"From my point of view, digital pathology benefits smaller labs more, as those in smaller cities often have fewer local pathologists and therefore need assistance from pathologists outside their area. In contrast, large labs in major cities have a greater number of available pathologists."
The Ocus scanner's intuitive design and ease of use have also been a major advantage. "Out of all the scanners I’ve used – and I’ve used a lot – it’s the easiest one," Dr. Torres states. "The scan time is also good. In our routine, most slides are biopsies that take around one minute if we have good quality slides."
Dr. Torres and her team are particularly impressed with the image quality produced by the Ocus scanner, which is crucial for accurate diagnosis and analysis. The high-resolution images facilitate collaboration with remote pathologists, enhancing the lab's overall efficiency. The high-resolution images produced by the Ocus®40 ensure accurate and timely diagnoses, critical for effective patient treatment.
While the Grundium Ocus® scanner has met Cepatho's needs, integration with their Laboratory Information System (LIS) has been challenging due to the high cost of creating an API. Until lately, the team exported the images from the scanner and imported them to their LIS manually, which was not sustainable given the increasing volume of slides they processed.
However, after Cepatho's purchase in 2021, Ocus® scanners have received a feature upgrade that allows exporting the scanned images to a network storage. Now, Grundium is assisting Dr. Torres and her team in setting up an automated export and image transfer to their LIS, which will streamline their workflow immensely.
With the increasing volume of slides, Cepatho is considering purchasing another scanner with a larger capacity. Dr. Torres was excited to learn about the new Grundium Ocus® M 40 scanner, which offers a four-slide capacity, potentially further enhancing their efficiency and throughput. The Ocus® M 40, with its four-slide capacity and faster processing times, would further boost Cepatho’s efficiency.
Cepatho's experience with the Grundium Ocus® scanner highlights the importance of reliable, cost-effective, and user-friendly equipment in advancing digital pathology. The Ocus® has not only met but exceeded their expectations, providing high-quality images, seamless operation, and significant cost benefits.
