Puerto Rico’s CorePlus deploys AI-based cancer detection solution
CorePlus Servicios Clínicos y Patológicos, LLC, a clinical and anatomic pathology laboratory, announced the first deployment in the Americas of an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered digital pathology solution for detecting prostate cancer at its main facilities in Carolina.
The deployment includes Whole Slide Imaging techniques used to digitize traditional glass slides and the Galen Prostate, an AI-based solution for prostate cancer detection, both validated following strict College of American Pathologists’ guidelines.
Patients and urologists will now benefit from this technology, which will become the new standard of care for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, company executives said.
There has been a surge in demand for diagnostic tests in recent years, alongside an increase in cancer prevalence. However, these trends coincide with a decline in the number of pathologists who specialize in diagnosing cancer, resulting in greater workloads.
In the United States alone, the number of pathologists decreased by nearly 20% in the past decade. Moreover, to this day, pathologists often diagnose cancer by examining biopsies through a microscope, a manual process that is timely and prone to human error, executives said.
The new deployment of digital pathology and AI-based solutions at CorePlus will support pathologists in enhancing diagnostic accuracy and efficiency. The advances in the application and integration of AI are expected to impact critical areas affecting both cost and efficiencies in healthcare diagnostics by reducing diagnostic errors, accelerating access to AI-based second opinions, reducing the use of immunohistochemistry, improving patient care and increasing the body of knowledge in healthcare.
“Pathologists at CorePlus have reported in excess of 500 prostate cases using a novel AI solution developed by our partner, Ibex Medical Analytics from Israel,” said CorePlus Medical Director Juan C. Santa-Rosario.
Meanwhile, Mariano de Socarraz, CorePlus CEO, said the arrival of the new technology represents a move “away from microscopy-based pathology to AI-powered digital pathology as a foundation for advances in precision medicine diagnosis and treatment.”
“We’re proud to be the first laboratory in the Americas to reach this breakthrough by combining an AI-powered solution with digital pathology imaging to ascertain the diagnosis of prostate cancer,” he said.
“It’s especially significant for CorePlus to have reached this milestone integration of science and technology in Puerto Rico, and to be in a position to offer this innovative contribution for the advancement of diagnostic precision in digital pathology, utilizing our home in Puerto Rico as its launching pad for the world,” de Socarraz said.
