Elfi Hacker of Hacker Instruments & Industries inquires:

>>Would a software driven system, that takes and records very accurate 
digital images of specimens, with the ability to mark dimensions and provide 
detailed  close-ups be of use to you? This system would provide a permanent 
visual record that the pathologist or tech could refer to at any time in 
order to avoid any conflicts in interpreting conventional verbal descriptions 
of tissue specimens. It could also greatly reduce the length and detail of 
the written report. All this via a very user friendly point and click 
software system, attached to a grossing area with camera on board.<<

For pathologists doing their own grossing, particularly those who work 
without an assistant, it's difficult to imagine a system like this that would 
not be inordinately time consuming. - If I were running my own shop, I'd be 
more interested in trying to get voice recognition to work, with a digital 
camera available for an occasional photo.

Of course, most pathologists I work for are denied more than the most minimal 
computer equipment - I have two clients who are trying to keep machines with 
286 processors working - and even minor tools are difficult for them to 
replace. Most of them just got word processors four or five years ago. For 
most of us out there, a surgical pathology data base system (what's wrong 
with file cards, say the MBA's) is a distant dream.

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Knoxville TN