Proscia wants all patients to have access to accurate cancer diagnoses

When they’re reviewing cancer biopsies and making diagnoses, hospitals often require doctors to get a second opinion. But in the highly specialized field, there’s not always another specialist in the house.
That’s where Proscia’s latest feature could come in. On Tuesday, the health IT startup launched a tool that allows doctors to source second opinions from other locations. You can watch a video about the new feature on Proscia’s website.
The cloud-based feature, which runs on Amazon Web Services, allows specialists from other locations to review biopsy slides. It also has international voice chat and text capabilities. The idea is to make the additional review available globally, and Proscia’s team believes the feature will be especially helpful in areas where getting the opinion of even one cancer specialist is a tall order.
The feature is part of Proscia’s overall effort to bring new technology to the pathology field, which until now has relied on microscopes and lots of white coats.
Earlier this spring, Proscia’s David West told us that the current system results in conflicting opinions and wrong diagnoses. Proscia’s platform provides storage for the slides, and uses data analytics to create categories of diagnoses that could help doctors be more accurate in their diagnoses.
West founded the startup as a Johns Hopkins University student. The team is currently working in Philadelphia for the summer. Plans for the future are uncertain, but they haven’t ruled out returning to Baltimore.