Royal Philips , a global leader in health technology, announced a collaboration with Singapore General Hospital (SGH) to establish the Singapore General Hospital Digital and Computational Pathology Center of Excellence. The SGH Center of Excellence aims to advance pathology practice by implementing a fully digital histopathology workflow and deploying Artificial Intelligence (AI) to increase productivity and enhance patient care.
Located within SGH’s Division of Pathology, one of the largest pathology laboratories in ASEAN, the Center of Excellence aims to establish ASEAN’s first fully digitized histopathology laboratory by expanding its digital pathology capabilities for primary diagnosis, training, and R&D with the Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution. Both SGH and Philips will also work closely on other diverse areas, including streamlining of the histopathology laboratory’s digital workflow.
As in other parts of the world, the demand for cancer diagnosis in Singapore is increasing while pathologists remain scarce. A recent study, conducted by SGH and Philips, revealed that full digitization of SGH’s histopathology laboratory will improve efficiency. It has the potential to enable time savings in the pathology workflow and allow the pathology department to increase its capacity by another 7% whilst retaining the same number of employees.
Through optimization of digital pathology at SGH, the hospital will be able to further its research in AI. AI-based tools can aid pathologists in diagnosing diseases such as cancer – the leading cause of mortality in Singapore [1] – and empower them to face the current challenges in pathology. The increasing number of cancer cases, an aging population, and rapid advances in personalized medicine have resulted in significant complexity of pathological diagnostics, adding to the workload of pathologists. AI will allow pathologists to focus more on challenging tasks and unusual cases that require a higher degree of expertise and skills.
“Digital pathology enhances the quality and efficiency of a histopathology laboratory,” said Diederik Zeven, General Manager, Health Systems, Philips ASEAN Pacific. “We are committed to partnering with leading healthcare institutions like Singapore General Hospital to bring the latest in precision diagnosis and AI capabilities to help them augment clinical quality, improving patient outcomes and thereby reducing the cost of care.”
Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution enables pathologists to review and interpret digital images of surgical pathology slides prepared from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples. This technology replaces the need for traditional glass slides to be viewed under a microscope, and facilitates referencing and storage. Ultimately, digital images allow the application of computer-aided image analysis with AI.
About Royal Philips
Royal Philips is a leading health technology company focused on improving people’s health and well-being, and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum – from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips generated 2019 sales of EUR 19.5 billion and employs approximately 81,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries.
About Singapore General Hospital
Singapore General Hospital, a member of Singapore Health Services, is the public sector’s flagship hospital. Established in 1821, SGH is Singapore’s largest acute tertiary hospital with 1,700 beds and national referral center offering a comprehensive range of more than 40 clinical specialties on its campus. Every year, about 1 million Singaporeans benefit from advanced medical care delivered by its 800 specialists. As an academic healthcare institution and the bedrock of medical education, SGH plays a key role in nurturing doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, and is committed to innovative translational and clinical research in her continual strive to provide the best care and outcomes to her patients.
