April 22, 2023
Something like 70% of today’s medical decisions depends on laboratory test results, and clinical laboratories therefore play an absolutely essential role in today’s healthcare system. Yet the most common hematology lab tests like the peripheral blood smear review are still mainly conducted manually with a microscope. They require classifying and counting cells by type and hunting for abnormalities. Does it work? Sure. Is it the best we can do? Not by a long shot. This method is labor intensive, time-consuming, requires continuous staff training, and is subject to relatively large inter-observer variability
