Page History

...

Today, medical technicians and doctors cannot directly compare image data from different disciplinesdifferent types of medical images from the same person. For example, you cannot take an ultrasound of a tumor and compare its features to those on a slide containing cells of that same tumor, let alone compare that tumor to the same kind in a mouse. Since image data from different disciplines are in different formats, comparing them means changing those native formats to something both can interpret, risking important changes to the data contained within. This is not good news for a patient.

Most cancer diagnoses are made based on images. You have to see a tumor, or compare images of it over time, to determine its level of threat. Ultrasounds, MRIs, and X-rays are all common types of images that radiologists use to collect information about a patient and perhaps cause a doctor to recommend a biopsy. Once that section of the tumor is under the microscope, pathologists learn more about it. Radiologists and pathologists represent different scientific disciplines. To gather even more information, a doctor may order a genetic panel. If that panel shows that the patient has a genetic anomaly, the doctor or a geneticist may search for clinical trials that match it, or turn to therapies that researchers have already proven effective for this combination of tumor and genetic anomaly through recent advances in precision medicine.

...