Increasing Interest in Merging the Specialties of Pathology and Radiology

In October, 2006, I posted a blog note suggesting that pathology should consider merging with radiology. The idea gave a number of people indigestion; one pathology chairman described it to me as a bridge too far (see:Ten Reasons for Merging Pathology/Lab Medicine with Radiology). In the interval of nearly 13 years a number of changes have occurred in the two fields and the idea "may" have gained some cautious supporters -- one of them perhaps may be the bloggerDimitri Merine who posted a note in the JACR Blog in December, 2018, that provided a balanced discussion of the idea (see:Radpathology/Pathradiology: The Information Specialty of The Future?). Below is an excerpt of his article:Welcome to the Imaging 5.0 uber-super physician who is both radiologist and pathologist.The image centric disciplines of radiology and pathology (rad-path) are ripe for disruption. Analyzing images is a perfect fit for AI, potentially redefining the two disciplines. Artificial intelligence (AI) will change radiology and pathology, likely forcing them to consider merging. One audacious and futuristic proposal to survive the AI robopocalypse is the merger of the two specialties. In a 2016JAMA editorial, Drs Saurabh Jha...and Eric Topol...proposed a fusion of diagnostic radiology/molecular imaging and pathology/laboratory medicine into a unified"information specialist" discipline. Surprisingly, this was not a new idea.Richard Friedberg MD championed...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Cost of Healthcare Diagnostics Digital Imaging in Pathology Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Lab Industry Trends Lab Processes and Procedures Pathology Informatics Quality of Care Source Type: blogs