PathCentral announces roll-out of new pathology network

PathCentral (www.pathcentral.net), a technology-enabled company dedicated to the success of the international pathology community, and China-based Kindstar Globalgene Technology, Inc., today announced the roll-out of the PathCentral Pathology Network, an online professional pathology network that will enable Kindstar to access US pathologists and facilitate pathology consultations for more than 3,300 hospitals throughout China.

Kindstar and its clients will gain access to hundreds of American pathologists at leading U.S. medical institutions, including many of the top 50 cancer centers, delivering patient diagnoses to physicians in China via the cloud. Formed in 2003, Kindstar provides esoteric diagnostic testing services to hospitals and physicians in every province of China. Kindstar is the first and largest esoteric diagnostic testing business in China, providing laboratory testing services to over 3,300 Chinese hospitals, including 930 tertiary hospitals (Class III A and B). Kindstar is becoming the partner of choice to physicians in China for advanced diagnostics in many medical specialties including hematology, oncology, infectious diseases and medical genetics.

PathCentral has been affiliated with Kindstar since 2011, when it began deploying its web-based anatomic pathology laboratory information system (APLIS) technology to Kindstar's laboratory facilities and hospital clients across China. Now, Kindstar will tap PathCentral's new network to service the consultation needs of its doctors and hospital clients throughout the region.

The PathCentral Pathology Network is designed to be the industry's most comprehensive online information exchange, case file sharing, and referral resource. PathCentral provides the architecture and technical tools to enable physicians in China to upload case files using digital images for pathology consultants in the U.S. to review and render consulting diagnoses. PathCentral's core IT infrastructure is the backbone of almost every reference laboratory that offers remote review of cases via "tech only" testing. This technology, forged over the last 12 years, was used in the development of the professional network.

"Demand for pathology consultants in China is growing at a rate that simply cannot be accommodated locally," said Shiang Huang, M.D., founder and chief executive officer of Kindstar. "Thanks to PathCentral's new online professional network, which takes full advantage of digital scanning technology, Kindstar clients in China will be able to have their patient's cases reviewed by U.S. pathologists without having the slides or the patients leave the country. This is a tremendous milestone for the medical community in China and for our ability to serve patients throughout the country. We see the Network as a natural complement to our existing relationship with PathCentral around its APLIS technology."

"We're extremely excited about our continued involvement with Kindstar, a relationship that began two years ago," said Jaye Connolly, Chief Executive Officer, PathCentral. "The rollout of the network with Kindstar represents the next phase of our technology evolution. It not only enables us to electronically connect a broad base of hospitals with highly qualified pathology consultants, but it brings U.S. diagnostic expertise and technology to all corners of the globe. Best of all, we've created a truly open network that will uniquely encourage participation and feedback from everyone who uses it."