The impact of information technology on histopathology

Pathology is one of the most computer intensive areas of medicine and as a result diagnostic pathologists in histopathology have often been at the cutting edge of computer literacy. The majority of laboratories use laboratory information systems to issue and store pathology reports. Many of these systems provide the diagnostician with the ability to retrieve reports and cases using coding systems such as SNOMED, but more advanced computer facilities that might assist the pathologist in the diagnosis or interpretation of a case are often lacking. In recent years advances in computer technology have begun to have a much wider impact on the practice of medicine and newer technologies are beginning to find their way into the reporting room. In this review, I cover some of the recent and emerging advances in IT that have the potential to revolutionize the practice of diagnostic histopathology in the next 5 years. The major area of telepathology has been a subject of several recent reviews and will not be covered here.