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. 2012 Sep 5:10:100.
doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-10-100.

Integrating pathology and radiology disciplines: an emerging opportunity?

James Sorace  1 , Denise R Aberle, Dena Elimam, Silvana Lawvere, Ossama Tawfik, W Dean Wallace
Affiliations

Integrating pathology and radiology disciplines: an emerging opportunity?

James Sorace et al. BMC Med. .

Abstract

Pathology and radiology form the core of cancer diagnosis, yet the workflows of both specialties remain ad hoc and occur in separate "silos," with no direct linkage between their case accessioning and/or reporting systems, even when both departments belong to the same host institution. Because both radiologists' and pathologists' data are essential to making correct diagnoses and appropriate patient management and treatment decisions, this isolation of radiology and pathology workflows can be detrimental to the quality and outcomes of patient care. These detrimental effects underscore the need for pathology and radiology workflow integration and for systems that facilitate the synthesis of all data produced by both specialties. With the enormous technological advances currently occurring in both fields, the opportunity has emerged to develop an integrated diagnostic reporting system that supports both specialties and, therefore, improves the overall quality of patient care.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Proposed idealized workflow model of radiology-pathology integration. Workflows are not designed around any specific disease; they remain flexible to meet new clinical demands. This figure is from the US Health and Human Services Report titled "The importance of radiology and pathology communication in the diagnosis and staging of cancer: mammography as a case study" (manuscript reference 3) and is thus not copyrighted.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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