In this episode Dr. Aleks Zuraw sits down with Mariano De Socarraz, President of CorePlus and member of the board of directors at the Digital Pathology Association.
CorePlus is an anatomic and clinical pathology lab in Puerto Rico that has fully embraced digital pathology and AI.
Key Takeaways
Making the Digital Transition
Mariano shares how CorePlus, as a technology-forward company, decided in 2018 to fully convert to digital pathology. They took 2019 to prepare, validate their processes following CAP guidelines, and get full buy-in from stakeholders. On January 1st, 2020 they were fully digital.
While acknowledging that glass slides have advantages in simplicity, Mariano believes the benefits of digital pathology for patients and pathologists are too great to ignore. His advice for other practices considering the digital transition:
Unlocking the Power of AI
After seeing a press release about UPMC and IBEX using AI to diagnose prostate cancer, CorePlus reached out to partner with them. They became the first site outside the UK to validate and implement IBEX's algorithm, running it on over 9500 cases as a QC tool.
The algorithm was able to alert pathologists to missed lesions in 73 patients that would have otherwise been false negatives. CorePlus has now moved the algorithm to the front-end to pre-screen and triage all prostate cases.
They are also partnering with other AI companies like AlpenGlow, Artera and TechCyte to bring these benefits to breast, GI, cytology and other subspecialties. Mariano sees AI generating predictive and prognostic insights right from slides.
The Future is Digital
Mariano believes medical education must quickly incorporate digital pathology and AI training to prepare the next generation of pathologists. The Digital Pathology Association is key in fostering collaboration to expand access, especially in underserved communities.
While going digital requires some reinvention, Mariano is excited to pioneer this space. He and CorePlus aim to be "missionaries" doing what's best for patients and the field of pathology.
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