Pathology Startup Fuels Shift Away from Physical Slides

Hundreds of millions of tissue biopsies are performed worldwide each year — most of which are diagnosed as non-cancerous. But for the few days or weeks it takes a lab to provide a result, uncertainty weighs on patients. That turnaround time has the potential to dramatically reduce. In recent years, the biopsy process has begun to digitize, with more and more pathologists looking at digital scans of body tissue instead of physical slides under a microscope.

“Patients suffer emotionally, and their cancer is progressing as the clock ticks,” said David West, CEO of digital pathology startup Proscia.