Digital & Computational Pathology - Lead Pathologist, Spanish Academic Medical Center

A lead pathologist from a Spanish academic medical center discusses the adoption and use of digital pathology at their institution. The acquisition of digital pathology tools has been slow due to funding constraints in their healthcare system, but larger institutions can obtain scanners for specific studies through arrangements with digital pathology companies. At the stakeholder's institution, digital pathology is primarily done in-house with their scanner, but they also participate in clinical trials with other hospitals. The adoption of additional tools and workflow components of digital pathology is expected to be gradual. The stakeholder believes that digital pathology is currently most useful in routine clinical diagnostics, particularly in oncology. They suggest that with the proper infrastructure, non-tumoral pathology may also be scanned digitally in the future. The stakeholder highlights oncology as the best application for digital pathology, along with nephropathology and sarcomas. They also express willingness to adopt AI tools for quantification of biomarkers, especially in breast pathology and NGS testing. The stakeholder predicts a shift in the use of pathology techniques in the next five years, with increased utilization of IHC and quantification tools. Generational barriers among older pathologists and budget differences among regions may hinder the adoption of digital pathology. The stakeholder emphasizes the importance of digital sharing tools and online meetings for collaboration in digital pathology. Roche, Leica, and Motic are identified as leading vendors in the field, with Motic being the interviewee's preferred option.