Virtual Clarity

Cancer diagnostics has received a shot in the arm with the web-based,high resolution scan virtual lab set up.

For the first time ever cancer patients can consult experts from across the world which is so critical for getting a correct diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Dr Prashant Jani recently set up OncoPath diagnostics in the city which is the only state of the art laboratory in the country with an entire slide digital imaging analysis system.

Set up in Pune,the team has national and international panel consultants including pathologists from Canada,USA and UK who can help cancer patients making well informed decisions by examining reports and slides online.

Jani says,Cancer can be wrongly diagnosed and what follows is traumatic for both the ones who have it and also for those who do not. An incorrect diagnosis may lead to a wrong patient for treatment while screening tests can at times miss out on the cancer detection.

With the installation of the automated tissue processing system,biopsies can be processed and glass slides can be scanned,uploaded and a pathologist from any part of the world can review it and give his or her medical advice. The digital slides replaces the need of microscope and allows the pathologist to view slides at any desired magnification in real time, he says.

Based in Canada,Jani who hails from Pune decided to rope in several of his colleagues and friends practicing abroad to provide services to patients in India. The fees are pegged at a nominal cost ranging from a small to large biopsy, says Jani. The laboratory includes a large in house inventory of histochemical and immunoperoxidase stains,frozen section coverage,personalised patient counselling and education materials,web-based reporting system,report turn-around time of 2-3 days for biopsies and 3-5 days for large cases and distribution of reports via the Internet and Fax.

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