Pathtracker, a software program which uses commercial digital cameras to track the movement of biospecimens and which has email reminder capabilities
Honorable Mention - Pathology InformaticsWilliam, H, Yong ; David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA;
Content:
Context: One critical function of a pathology laboratory or a tumor bank is the tracking of materials and specimens to and from its site. Bar-codes and radio frequency identification tag systems may be costly or not available. Our objective is to develop a relatively inexpensive method to improve biospecimen tracking and to provide prompts for completion of related tasks.
Technology:
Technology: Visual Basic 6, Access 2003, Windows XP (Microsoft, Redmond, Washington); Intel Pentium Dual Core computer with 2 Gigabytes of RAM (Dell Computer, Round Rock, Texas); Canon Powershot SX100IS, Canon Powershot S2IS (Canon USA, Lake Success, New York).
Design:
Design: Visual Basic 6 is used to link a Microsoft Access database with a data entry graphical user interface and an inexpensive commercial off the shelf camera.
Results:
Results: A Canon Powershot S2IS camera and subsequently a Powershot SX100IS have been successfully linked to the software. The digital camera can capture alphanumeric labels on slides and blocks. One image can document up to twenty slides in a tray or ninety blocks. The images are linked to a case. A search function can find cases using specified parameters including name, destination, and date range. Automated email reminders are sent when materials or tasks are due. The software can also send sequences of reminder emails leading up to a due date. This feature has been adapted for prompting completion of autopsy reports. This image-based tracking has been successfully implemented in the UCLA Brain Tumor Translational Resource, a brain tumor biorepository.
Conclusion:
Conclusion: We have developed a flexible software program that uses relatively inexpensive cameras to document the movement of materials. It is useful as an adjunct to other tracking technologies or as a substitute. The email reminders can prompt return of materials but is easily adaptable to prompting completion of autopsy reports.
