Leica Biosystems and Dell Enable Access to Pathology Images Between China and the U.S.

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VISTA, Calif., March 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Leica Biosystems, which through its acquisition of Aperio became the leading provider of digital pathology systems, announced today that Chinese physicians have access to U.S. healthcare organizations for real-time, expert review of pathology cases through the first scalable, secure medical cloud network through its strategic collaboration with Dell Healthcare and Life Sciences.

The U.S. institutions providing pathology services include: The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Dianon/Lab Corp. and ProPath. According to Krista Crews, executive director of ProPath, "Through the use of amazingly innovative technologies, pathology services can be provided efficiently and rapidly to support the needs in China."

"We are pleased to now have access to additional pathology resources," said Hongbo Li, M.D., a GI pathologist and co-founder of Sinopath Diagnostics. Located in the Beijing International Medical Center, Sinopath Diagnostics provides services for routine anatomic pathology diagnoses, pathology consultation, tele-IHC, companion diagnostics and genetic testing. "By improving communication among our colleagues, we can enhance the quality of care we provide for our patients," said Li.

"Demand for pathology services in China is growing rapidly and we need easier access to experts both inside and outside of China to keep up with the demand," said Shiang Huang, M.D., founder and CEO of Kindstar Globalgene Technology. Kindstar provides laboratory services to over 3,300 Chinese hospitals for advanced diagnostics in oncology and other medical specialties.

"Connecting China and the U.S. through our collaboration with Dell begins to meet our goal to address the regional and global imbalances of pathology expertise available for patient care by enabling access to pathologists, regardless of location," said Matthias Weber, M.D., president of Leica Biosystems.

The cloud-based solution, powered by Dell's Unified Clinical Archive, is a global, secure and scalable IT platform. This provides the foundation of best practices to optimize access to large pathology images so physicians can quickly and easily review and collaborate to expedite patient results and treatment decisions.  

"Dell is excited to work with Leica Biosystems on this initiative and to facilitate the sharing of whole slide pathology images via the cloud," said August Calhoun, Ph.D., vice president and general manager of Dell Healthcare and Life Sciences. "This is a prime example of how a hybrid cloud solution with application-neutral data management capabilities can break down traditional information silos and allow healthcare organizations to securely manage, store and share data to advance patient care even across great distances."

About Leica Biosystems

Leica Biosystems is a global leader in laboratory workflow solutions for anatomic pathology, striving to advance cancer diagnostics to improve patients' lives. Leica Biosystems provides a comprehensive product range for each step in the pathology process, from sample preparation and staining to imaging and reporting. Recognizing there is a shortage of Pathology expertise worldwide, as well as increasing sub specialization, Leica Biosystems expanded its capability in pathology imaging with Aperio ePathology Solutions enabling greater access for Pathologists through market leading whole slide scanners, NETWORK solutions that enables remote, real-time viewing and easy distribution of images for collaboration, and PRECISION solutions that provide pathologists with easy-to-use quantitative image analysis to improve clinical and research productivity, reproducibility, and consistency. Leica Biosystems is represented in over 100 countries. It has manufacturing facilities in 6 countries, sales and service organizations in 19 countries, and an international network of dealers. Further information can be found at www.leicabiosystems.com.

SOURCE Leica Biosystems