DETROIT – Henry Ford Health System will be testing a telemedicine digital imaging system that could enable quicker sharing of pathologic images.

The large integrated delivery system, which operates 24 medical centers and three hospitals, hopes to use the robotic telemicroscope to enable pathologists to eventually look at specimens remotely, potentially saving time and money.

The ability to create digital images also will enable Henry Ford to add them to medical records, saving time and making it easier to share them for consultations and reports.

Henry Ford is using technology from Trestle Holdings Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based company that is developing digital imaging and telemedicine applications for life science markets.

Henry Ford and Trestle will cooperate on developing to implement and integrate digital imaging solutions, and the system's pathology laboratory will be a test site for the vendor's future projects.

Pathologists can manipulate the robotic telemicroscope, so they can not only see images but also fully control the microscope, said J. Mark Tuthill, MD, division head of pathology informatics for Henry Ford.

"The first thing we're doing is using it in- house to validate its accuracy," Tuthill said. "So far, we have about a 100 percent concurrence rate." The simple-to-use robotic system then will be used by pathologists to screen "straightforward" cases from home.

"Pathologists will be able to make diagnoses remotely," Tuthill said. "They also will be able to get second opinions on images or summon help from additional pathologists."

Ultimately, Henry Ford hopes the telemicroscopy system will enable images to be taken at facilities that don't have pathologists and analyzed remotely by pathologists operating the telemicroscope.

"This will allow us to move pathology services to multiple points without having to station pathologists there," he said.

The system will be a huge benefit to pathologists who otherwise have to come to the hospital to view pathology samples. It also will help pathologists learn through real-time consultations on samples, Tuthill said.

"It's very easy to get multiple users onto a single session, and we can easily get four or five on one case," he said.

The system also will eliminate time that pathologists waste waiting to view slides, such as in transplant cases, Tuthill said.

"Once we begin to digitize the glass slide for cases, we won't have to retrieve them," he added. "We spend a couple full-time-equivalent staff just pulling old slides on cases and re-filing them. We'll try to phase this in for exams that require frequent review, like gastrointestinal biopsies, because we're always going back and looking at those."