SOUTH AFRICA – Roche Pharmaceuticals South Africa has launched its next-generation VENTANA DP 600 slide scanner for digital pathology to enhance patient care with precision diagnostics, the multinational healthcare company said on its website.

Roche South Africa announced that the high-capacity slide scanner produces excellent image quality of stained histology slides from patient tissue samples while providing ease-of-use and workflow flexibility for the pathology lab.

According to Roche, once the slide scanner captures and converts stained tissue on glass slides to digital images, the images can be managed, shared and analyzed by pathologists to help determine a cancer patient’s treatment.

VENTANA slide scanners use tray-based systems engineered with minimal moving parts. The slides move through the system on the tray without interference by a robotic mechanism, allowing for a high-quality scan even if the slides are wet, frozen or if cover slips are slightly off centre.

The pharmaceutical firm revealed that the new scanner features innovative optics and dynamic focus technology for high-resolution, high-quality color images that accurately reproduce the image quality that pathologists see under microscopes.

The Roche Digital Pathology solution is an integrated solution that combines innovative slide scanners, patient-centric pathology workflow software and image analysis algorithms, working in integrated harmony with the full Roche tissue diagnostics portfolio,” Roche said.

The South African pharmaceutical giant said that Roche’s new VENTANA DP 600 creates high-resolution, digital images of stained tissue samples that help to diagnose cancer and determine a patient’s treatment, noting that many cancers can be cured if detected early and treated effectively.

In addition, the VENTANA DP 600 slide scanner will empower pathologists to provide faster and more comprehensive diagnostic results to healthcare providers and their patients as well as help anatomic pathology laboratories accelerate the digitalization of their pathology workflow.

Roche explained that digital pathology refers to the digitalization of the traditional pathology workflow starting from slide scanning to visualization to analysis, adding that it is transforming traditional histopathology by improving efficiency, depth of analysis and opportunity for collaboration in pathology workflows.

Roche further highlighted that the VENTANA DP 600 slide scanner is an important addition to the Roche Digital Pathology portfolio which provides innovative, high-quality digital solutions that automate tissue diagnostics.

The VENTANA DP 600 slide scanner is vital for the advancement of healthcare in Africa as the solution helps to ensure that each patient receives the most effective treatment plan possible, regardless of where they live,” said Alan Yates Ad-Interim General Manager of Roche Diagnostics.

Alan Yates pointed out that when combined with Roche’s innovative AI image analysis algorithms, the VENTANA DP 600 creates opportunities for better collaboration and remote diagnosis, noting that diagnostic technologies can be lifesaving in African countries with large rural populations.

Innovative solutions such as the next-generation VENTANA DP 600 slide scanner allow us to move closer to our vision of enabling health for every African,” the Ad-Interim General Manager of Roche Diagnostics added.

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