Harris Corporation Demonstrates Remote Digital Imagery Display and Manipulation for Pathology Applications
Technology Originally Developed for Intelligence Applications Enables Transition to Digital Pathology
ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 25 - HIMSS, Booth #1841 - Revolutionary technology to enable pathologists and other medical professionals to view, collaborate and rapidly manipulate multi-gigabyte digital images in a virtual environment is being demonstrated publicly for the first time by Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual conference and exhibition, February 24-28, 2008 in Orlando, Florida.
The Harris imaging technology, originally designed for the U.S. Intelligence Community and civilian agencies, enables a pathologist workflow in a digital and collaborative context. By simply accessing local or wide- area networks, multiple pathologists can view, pan across and zoom into digital images as if they were looking through a microscope at the actual slides.
As opposed to radiology, where most diagnostic data today is collected digitally, pathology still uses glass slides with tissue samples that are examined under a microscope. If a second opinion is needed, the tissue samples must be physically shipped to other locations. The unique capability of the Harris technology to move very large images - some tens of gigabytes in size - transmit those images, and manipulate them without delay or latency, speeds the diagnostic process for patients and eliminates the possibility that the one-of-a-kind pathology samples will be lost or damaged.
During HIMSS, visitors to the Harris booth will be able to experience a 'pathology cockpit' to view and manipulate remote digital pathology images, annotate the images with digital notes, and delineate special areas of interest on the sample, such as a cluster of tumor cells. This experience and the associated notes and annotations can be automatically shared for collaboration with other pathologists and specialists any where in the world.
"This Harris technology is potentially disruptive and will create enterprise intelligence through digital pathology. We are breaking through previous limits in computing and image processing to enable collaborative viewing, archival, and retrieval of large data volumes in a virtual environment with no latency in the viewing experience," said Dr. Bart Harmon, MD, pathologist, and chief medical officer of Harris Healthcare Solutions. "Using this breakthrough Harris technology in the diagnostic setting gives pathologists the ability to have the traditional you-are-there, microscope experience in a digital world."
The digitizing of pathology samples is made possible by the development of new, highly advanced scanners that allow whole-slide imaging. BioImagene, Inc., a leading provider of total digital pathology imaging solutions including the new iScan system for pathologists, researchers and drug developers, is supplying the pathology slides used in the Harris demo. Harris also is collaborating with researchers and pathologists at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, to further the technology and application of digital imagery use in the clinical setting.
Harris Healthcare Solutions provides enterprise intelligence solutions and services for commercial and government customers, including systems integration, intelligent infrastructure, advanced visualization and display, and enterprise digital content management solutions. Harris products, systems, and services improve health outcomes by assuring that critical medical information is delivered with security and privacy to the right person, on the right device, at the point of care.
About Harris Corporation
Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries. Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, the company has annual revenue of almost $5 billion and 16,000 employees - including nearly 7,000 engineers and scientists. Harris is dedicated to developing best-in-class assured communications(TM) products, systems, and services. Additional information about Harris Corporation is available at www.harris.com.
Source: Harris Corporation
CONTACT: Sleighton Meyer of Harris Healthcare Solutions,
+1-321-727-6514, sleighton.meyer@harris.com;
or Jim Burke of Harris Corporation, +1-321-727-9131, jim.burke@harris.com,
or Marc Raimondi of Harris Corporation Washington, D.C., +1-703-739-1738, marc.raimondi@harris.com
Web site: www.harris.com/
