Norwegian healthcare region expands solution from Sectra with digital pathology to improve cancer care

LINKÖPING, Sweden, April 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- International medical imaging IT and cybersecurity company Sectra (STO: SECT B) has expanded its current contract with the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority—Helse Sør-Øst RHF (HSØ). HSØ will add Sectra's digital pathology module to the Sectra Enterprise Imaging Solution. This will enable pathology labs in the region to share resources, expertise, and workloads, thus ensuring high-quality cancer care for patients.

"Going digital in pathology is an important step to ensure that we can continue to provide high-quality care to patients in our region as well as help reduce our hospitals' growing under-capacity. It will allow us to utilize our resources more effectively and to cooperate around patient samples and with clinicians," say Pål Suhrke, Head of the Department of Pathology at Vestfold Hospital Trust and Project Leader, Digital Pathology at HSØ, and Inger Nina Farstad, Consultant and Professor at Oslo University Hospital and Head of Functional Solution Digital Pathology at HSØ, in a joint statement.

They continue: "Going digital also sets the stage for implementing more AI-based technology, which both can increase diagnostic precision and relieve some of the pathologists' workload." 

The hospitals will complement their use of microscopes with the digital solution, allowing the pathologists to review and collaborate around cases in a way that has not been possible before. The digital workflow provides instant and, if necessary, remote access to digital images of tissue samples instead of relying on physical glass slides reviewed in microscopes. Sectra's solution enables healthcare providers to access and share images and data quickly and easily, improving the speed and accuracy of diagnosis and treatment.

HSØ is the largest of the regional health authorities in Norway and covers almost 60% of the total population. Several hospitals in the region have been using Sectra's radiology solution for many years and they recently expanded it to a regional enterprise imaging solution across the entire HSØ. With the new contract signed during the fourth quarter of Sectra's 2022/2023 fiscal year, they will now also be using Sectra's digital pathology solution. The solution will enable integrated diagnostics as their radiologists and pathologists will be using the same platform to share images and information in an easy and effective way. 

"We are proud to be working with HSØ to digitize their pathology operations. Our solution is designed to help caregivers provide the highest quality of care to their patients, and we are pleased to be playing a part in ensuring that cancer patients in Norwegian healthcare receive the best possible care," says Petter Østbye, General Manager, Sectra Scandinavia.

The pathology solution is part of Sectra's enterprise imaging solution, which provides a unified strategy for all imaging needs while lowering operational costs. The scalable and modular solution, with a VNA at its core, allows healthcare providers to grow from ology to ology and from enterprise to enterprise. Visit Sectra's website to read more about Sectra and why it's top-ranked in "Best in KLAS".

About Sectra
Sectra contributes to a healthier and safer society by assisting health systems throughout the world to enhance the efficiency of care, and authorities and defense forces in Europe to protect society's most sensitive information. The company, founded in 1978, is headquartered in Linköping, Sweden, with direct sales in 19 countries, and distribution partners worldwide. Sales in the 2021/2022 fiscal year totaled SEK 1,949 million. The Sectra share is quoted on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange. For more information, visit Sectra's website.

For further information, please contact: Dr. Torbjörn Kronander, CEO and President Sectra  AB, 46 (0) 705 23 52 27
Marie Ekström Trägårdh, Executive Vice President Sectra AB and President Sectra Imaging IT Solutions, 46 (0)708 23 56 10

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