Makati Medical Center (MakatiMed) is looking beyond the digitization of pathology slides as it seeks to establish itself as a national hub for digital pathology and help build the foundation for the next generation of artificial intelligence-assisted cancer diagnosis in the Philippines.
The hospital recently inaugurated the Aperio GT180 DX digital pathology scanner, an investment that its pathology leadership sees not simply as an upgrade in laboratory equipment but as part of a broader effort to expand collaboration, preserve diagnostic information digitally and eventually create a repository of data that can support research and the development of AI tools suited to Filipino patients.
‘This acquisition represents a profound leap forward in our institutional commitment to precision medicine,’ said Dr. Agripino ‘Beng’ Javier, director of Medical Services at MakatiMed.
Strengthen diagnostic capabilities
He said the technology is expected to enhance diagnostic precision, reduce technical rework and strengthen the hospital’s diagnostic capabilities.
But for Dr. Redante D. Mendoza, chairman of MakatiMed’s Department of Pathology and Laboratories, the significance of the new system extends well beyond its ability to scan a larger number of slides.
MakatiMed has a tradition of being among the first to adopt digital pathology technologies. Mendoza recalled that the hospital acquired an Aperio digital scanner in 2019, which he described as the first digital scanner in the Philippines. The new GT180 DX represents the next step in the hospital’s digital pathology journey.
Unlike its predecessor, which could handle one slide at a time, the new system can process up to 180 slides in one run, allowing MakatiMed to move toward a workload-integrated digital pathology system.
Yet Dr. Mendoza stressed that faster turnaround time is not the primary reason for the investment.
MakatiMed is already achieving a 96-percent compliance rate within its three-to-five-working-day pathology turnaround time, with many cases completed in two days. The greater value of digitalization, he said, lies in areas such as urgent specialist referrals, remote consultations, second opinions and long-term archiving.
Digital slides can be retrieved and shared in real time, allowing pathologists to consult specialists in other institutions or overseas without having to physically transport glass slides.
Preserve access to cases
The technology can also help preserve access to cases that might otherwise become difficult to retrieve as physical slides age, are damaged or become lost.
For Dr. Regina T. Edusma-Dy, medical oncologist at MakatiMed’s Cancer Institute, the potential impact is particularly significant for cancer patients, who often wait anxiously for pathology and biomarker results before treatment decisions can be made.
She said digital pathology can support multidisciplinary discussions involving complex and rare cases, including sarcoma and lymphoma, while enabling specialists who cannot be physically present to participate in consultations.
For patients in the provinces, the technology could also reduce the need to physically transport pathology slides or travel to another medical center simply to obtain a specialist opinion.
Building a national network
These capabilities form the basis of a larger ambition for MakatiMed.
Dr. Mendoza said the hospital intends to establish a Digital Pathology Academy where other institutions adopting digital pathology can train with MakatiMed’s team, not only in reading digital slides, but also in understanding the workflow involved in implementing the technology, including the challenges, mistakes and lessons learned along the way.
The longer-term vision is a digital pathology network that could connect hospitals across the country with specialists who can review difficult cases, whether elsewhere in the Philippines or overseas.
Such a network could help address one of the challenges facing pathology: access to highly specialized expertise.
Leica Biosystems Vice President and General Manager for Asia-Pacific Bob Blalock said the shortage of skilled pathologists, increasing cancer cases and the growing complexity of diagnosis are among the pressures facing pathology departments globally.
‘Digital pathology is the foundation, the essential first step,’ Blalock said, noting that computational pathology and AI can eventually build on that foundation to provide more consistent and precise insights to pathologists.
Benedict Poh, PI Solutions Architect for APAC at Leica Biosystems, similarly emphasized that digital pathology is not simply about scanning slides more quickly.
It enables remote case review, internal consultations, multidisciplinary team discussions, education and case sharing, allowing pathology information to become more readily accessible across locations.
The Aperio GT180 DX can scan a 15-by-15-millimeter area at 40x magnification in about 32 seconds, with a stated sustained throughput of up to 81 slides per hour. It can accommodate up to 180 slides and produces high-resolution whole-slide images.
Preparing for AI-with Filipino data
Perhaps the most consequential part of MakatiMed’s digital pathology strategy, however, lies not in what the technology can do today but in what it could enable in the future.
Dr. Mendoza said the digitalization of pathology slides will create the repository of virtual slides necessary for future AI-assisted image analysis, quantitative biomarker assessment and research.
But he cautioned against simply importing AI systems developed using data from other populations.
‘When we acquire AI-assisted pathology systems from overseas, we need to train them for Filipino cancers,’ Dr. Mendoza said, pointing to genetic variation among populations.
For him, the hospital must first build the digital data necessary to train and validate such systems before AI-assisted pathology can be responsibly integrated into clinical practice.
Dr. Mendoza said MakatiMed sees AI-assisted pathology becoming a possibility around 2027 or 2028, depending on the maturity of the technology, validation and available resources.
AI to support, not replace, pathologists
Importantly, he does not envision AI replacing pathologists.
‘AI will only be assistants to pathologists,’ he said, emphasizing that the technology should augment rather than replace professional expertise.
This approach also reflects the broader role MakatiMed sees for digital pathology-as an enabling technology rather than an end in itself.
Arnold C. Ocampo, MakatiMed chief financial officer and interim co-president and CEO, said the move from glass slides to digital platforms represents a shift toward more precise diagnostics, seamless collaboration and more responsive patient care.
But he emphasized that the true measure of the investment will not be the installation of the technology itself.
‘The true value of innovation is realized not when the technology is installed, but when it starts to produce meaningful results for the patients that we serve,’ Ocampo said.
For MakatiMed, those results could eventually extend beyond the patients who walk through its doors.
By creating a digital repository, developing local expertise, training other institutions and establishing pathways for remote collaboration, the hospital hopes to contribute to a broader digital pathology ecosystem in the country.
And as that database grows, it could provide something equally important for the future of cancer care: a body of Philippine pathology data that can help researchers and clinicians develop, train and validate AI tools with greater relevance to Filipino patients.
‘Being the first has its responsibilities,’ Dr. Mendoza said.
For MakatiMed, that responsibility now appears to extend from being an early adopter of digital pathology to helping bring the country’s pathology community-and eventually its AI capabilities-into the digital age.