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Aperio Extends Patent Portfolio to Encompass Automated Image Analysis
Digital Pathology Leader Awarded Patent for Novel Image Processing and Analysis Framework
SAN DIEGO, CA – October 4, 2006 – Aperio Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of digital pathology systems to the Healthcare IT industry, announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued the company patent No. 7,116,440 entitled "Image Processing and Analysis Framework."
Aperio is the recognized leader in digital pathology, providing solutions that comprise microscope slide scanning instruments and software for the creation, viewing, management and analysis of digital slide images.
One of the benefits of digital pathology is the ability to apply image analysis algorithms—sophisticated computer programs—to digital slides. Digital slides are multi-gigabyte images that correspond to the cellular details available on an entire microscope slide. The ability to efficiently apply image analysis algorithms to digital slides, without the need for expensive and dedicated computational power, is critically important to automating tedious tasks such as counting cells of interest, or to aid pathologists with more challenging tasks such as estimating protein expression in immunohistochemical assays. In the future, automated entire-slide image analysis will be required to support computer-aided detection (CAD), providing pathologists with tools to identify diagnostically significant regions of interest on a biopsy specimen.
"We have steadily extended our patent portfolio from digital slide creation and viewing to data management, and now to entire-slide image analysis," said Dirk Soenksen, CEO of Aperio. "The technology protected by this patent will become increasingly important as Aperio and others continue to develop and adapt image analysis algorithms to digital pathology applications. We view entire-slide image analysis as a cornerstone of the digital pathology value proposition and are pleased to be further strengthening Aperio's already formidable patent position, a position that comprises over 20 issued, licensed or pending patents covering digital slide capture, compression, viewing, management and entire-slide analysis. Our patent portfolio also includes licenses to the rich virtual microscopy patents of Bacus Laboratories, a suite of patents we believe are essential for anyone wishing to do business in the field of virtual microscopy."
About Aperio
Aperio is digitizing pathology. We provide systems and services for digital pathology, which is a digital environment for the management and interpretation of pathology information that originates with a digital slide. Aperio's award-winning ScanScope slide scanning systems and SpectrumTM digital pathology information management software improve the efficiency and quality of pathology services for pathologists and other professionals. Applications include education, remote viewing, archival and retrieval, basic research, and image analysis. While Aperio is pursuing regulatory clearance to address the clinical market, Aperio's products have not yet been cleared or approved by the FDA. Founded in 1999, Aperio Technologies is headquartered in Vista, California. For more information and to view a gallery of digital slides created by ScanScope Systems, please visit www.aperio.com.
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ScanScope® and SpectrumTM are trademarks of Aperio Technologies.