Epredia, a global leader in precision cancer diagnostics solutions, has announced an agreement with Canada-based manufacturer Lab Improvements to bring intelligent archiving for tissue samples to US pathology laboratories.
Epredia will add two automated archiving solutions by Lab Improvements, BlockTracker and SlideTracker, to its product portfolio in the US, enabling more laboratories to access comprehensive traceability for the life of every pathology sample.
For laboratories facing rising case volumes and persistent staffing pressures, manual archiving of tissue samples used in cancer diagnostics has long been a hidden drain on productivity, and a single misfiled block or slide containing a sample can stall an entire workflow. Designed for pathologists and laboratory leaders at hospitals, university medical centres, reference laboratories, and cancer centres, BlockTracker and SlideTracker automate the sorting, storage, and retrieval of pathology blocks and slides. This eliminates the need for manual filing, reduces the risk of lost samples, and helps laboratories reclaim staff time for higher-value work.
BlockTracker and SlideTracker allow facilities to build and automate a chain of custody around their samples, providing laboratories with a complete digital and physical record of where every sample is and who interacted with it, from the histopathology bench to off-site storage.
At the heart of the platform is the ability to store blocks and slides both physically and digitally, organising samples easily between locations while high-density storage reduces space requirements and optimises local and off-site pathology storage. BlockTracker brings high-throughput cassette archiving to laboratories of any size, with a single device capable of serving an entire hospital and archiving up to 1500 blocks per hour, even handling historical specimens without disrupting daily workflow. SlideTracker replaces individual slide handling with automated archiving, loading 200 slides in less than five minutes and segmenting them automatically by barcode.
The system is built to fit the way laboratories already work and integrate seamlessly with other Epredia solutions, including the SlideMate laser printers for slides and cassettes. It preserves existing weekly or monthly archiving routines, integrates with any laboratory information system (LIS) and IT architecture, and uses standard histopathology block and slide boxes. An intuitive centralised database adds smart analysis and reporting that staff can access from any workstation in the laboratory. In addition to full chain of custody across the sample lifecycle and dramatically reduced risk of misfiled or lost specimens, this leads to meaningful savings in both storage space and long-term off-site storage costs.
“In cancer diagnostics, efficiency and confidence are both critical,” said Steven Lynum, President and CEO of Epredia. “With intelligent automated archiving, our customers don’t have to choose between throughput and efficiency. Epredia is offering pathology laboratories a way to reclaim their time and peace of mind, so they can better serve patients.”