The CSIR has joined forces with the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) to develop focused scalable and practical health care technologies and associated systems. This cooperation ensures that the CSIR offers its engineering and innovation skill to enhance the South African health sector.
A task team consisting of members from the CSIR and the NHLS has constructed the first version of a national digital morphology database, under the leadership of Prof Johnny Mahlangu, head of the School of Pathology at the NHLS and Wits University.
An ipad showing the digital morphology database.
The anonymised database was assembled using a multifaceted comprehensive approach of case finding, recording of associated clinical features and full blood count, digitisation of morphology and appropriate annotation of digital images. Annotation was performed by experienced morphologists and subjected to peer review following upload to the database.
To date, the national digital morphology pilot database includes 101 fully annotated case studies, comprising 1214 peripheral and bone marrow images, including 740 cell annotations. The assembly of the cases allows the teaching and training at various levels, from the basic introductory level to specialist trainees requiring a comprehensive diagnostic tool for learning. Through digital distribution, this morphology database is now ready for rollout to various teaching and training platforms previously inaccessible to the limited haematology expertise.
There is growing excitement at the prospects of tackling HIV, Tuberculosis (TB) and related haematology challenges in South Africa, with the aim of becoming the power house for haematology and morphology- related pathology information in Africa.
“The core challenge of modern pathology service delivery in South Africa is a scarcity of diagnostic skills and the inability to meet the high volume and complex disease burdens encountered in medical practice. Barriers to effective service delivery in pathology include the lack of skilled personnel, and inaccessible terrains that lack appropriate training and teaching facilities. Therefore, the utilization of digital technology to address these unmet needs in diagnostic pathology is an exciting possibility not yet fully explored in pathology,” Prof Mahlangu remarked.
The current NHLS and future national databases will function to increase the number of skilled staff in the domain, thereby improving the number and accuracy of differential diagnoses made. This is expected to reduce the need for referrals, turnover times for diagnosis and ultimately impact on the health of the people of South Africa and Africa by providing a higher standard of health care.
The database and associated infrastructure will facilitate an increase in the number of staff that can be trained yearly by providing an education infrastructure including high quality training material. This database will also serve as a national reference database for assistance during routine evaluation of blood slides.
26 September 2014
