January 22, 2020 — Sectra has signed a digital pathology contract with the Dutch hospital Zuyderland MC. A digital pathology workflow makes it possible to access and share images and information between departments and hospitals. Storing, reviewing and sharing digital pathology images increases efficiency in primary diagnostics and improves cancer care by facilitating the handling of complex cases.
With digital images of tissue samples instead of physical glass slides, pathologists gain instant access to current and historical images and related data as well as digital tools for reviewing the images.
"When moving to full-scale digital pathology for primary diagnostics, it's vital to select a solution that is stable, fast and allows integration with the scanners and LIS of our choice. Sectra's digital pathology solution meets all these criteria," said Danny Goudkade, pathologist at Zuyderland MC. "We already use Sectra's solution for radiology and know that they are a great vendor to work with."
The digital solution provides pathologists with assistance at critical decision points, such as grading or performing more precise measurements. It also enables image analysis, which in turn reduces variation and improves the precision of tasks such as cell counting. Digital access also facilitates second opinions, external reading resources, specialist consultations and makes integrated diagnostics possible.
Sectra's digital pathology solution will be integrated with Zuyderland's laboratory information system (LIS). This will provide pathologists with a complete overview of the patient history in one application and enable workflow orchestration to drive the workflow according to sub-specialties, rules and priorities. The solution's vendor-neutral approach also gave Zuyderland the freedom to select the scanner vendor of their choice. By using Sectra's solution for both radiology and pathology, Zuyderland is well equipped to move towards integrated diagnostic workflows should they choose to do so in the future.
The solution will handle approximately 35,000 examinations per year. The seven-year contract was signed in December 2019.
In 2017, Sectra announced that Zuyderland purchased its solution for handling radiology images.
The pathology solution is part of Sectra's enterprise imaging offering. It provides a unified strategy for all imaging needs, and improves patient outcomes while lowering operational costs. The scalable and modular solution supports the most image-intense departments-radiology, breast imaging, pathology, cardiology and orthopaedics. Being built on the same technical platform, customers can easily extend a departmental solution to create a comprehensive VNA.
For more information: www.sectra.com
July 16, 2026 
