Rapid Growth Fueled by Improved Turnaround Time, Efficiency and Cost Savings 

VISTA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aperio, a global leader in digital pathology for the healthcare and life sciences industries, today announced that its SecondSlide® digital slide sharing service has exceeded 3,000 users.

Launched in 2009, the number of SecondSlide users has increased steadily, with adoption accelerating virally throughout the pathology community and growth soaring 60% since first quarter 2010. Users can easily join the network and access or share digital slides with colleagues in a matter of minutes.

Jared N. Schwartz, MD, PhD, Aperio’s chief medical officer, stated, “SecondSlide is very powerful, especially for cases that need immediate review. It is also an excellent tool for allowing small community hospitals to access sub-specialty expertise located at academic medical centers.”

SecondSlide is a web-based service for pathologists that enables the secure, encrypted exchange of whole-slide images, photomicrographs, documents and commentary. These data reside at a secure global data center “in the cloud,” where they can be readily accessed by authorized parties. The slide sharing service is compatible with a variety of commercially available image capture devices, including whole-slide scanners and digital cameras attached to microscopes.

“In just over a year, SecondSlide has been validated by the global marketplace as a cost-effective and IT-friendly digital pathology solution,” stated Dirk G. Soenksen, CEO of Aperio. “SecondSlide dramatically reduces the time, effort and expense of pathology consultations and facilitates improved quality assurance.”

SecondSlide enables pathologists with subspecialty expertise to expand their consulting practice, and makes access to their knowledge and experience significantly easier for community hospitals and pathology labs located remotely. SecondSlide is also being used extensively for consultations, medical education and publication support. The service provides access to digital slide conferencing and a simple and secure “message board” for each case, allowing the pathology community to engage in dialog and exchange information.

The SecondSlide digital slide sharing service is presently available to pathologists free of charge; for more information please visit http://www.secondslide.com.