Top quality results in 5 days

“We had issues with long turnaround times for receiving prostate biopsy results. Inify delivers a solution where results are provided within 5 working days. That was the main reason we started sending our samples to them”.

These are the words of Martin Bergman, Consultant Urologist, CEO and founder at Capio Urosurgical Center in Stockholm. The clinic opened in the Autumn of 2022 in the vibrant life science cluster of Hagastaden. Here, Martin and his colleagues investigate suspected prostate cancer and other urological conditions. Robot-assisted prostate cancer surgeries are also performed in the clinic’s operating room. Since the end of 2023, when Inify was accredited as a medical laboratory, the prostate biopsies have been sent to Inify Laboratories for diagnosis.

“Patients who are waiting for a result after a tissue sample want to know if it was cancer or not. To be able to shorten that time from 2 – 3 weeks, to 5 days, is a huge win and means a lot to our patients.”

“Since we live in a region with a big population and a lot of other health-care, prostate biopsies often end up with low priority and take a long time to be diagnosed. So, when Inify entered the scene, we saw this as a super interesting company to start working with and send our samples to. It has turned out better than we could have hoped for”, Dr Bergman comments.

Before Capio Urosurgical Center began its collaboration with Inify, the median time to give a result to a patient was 15 calendar days from the date of the biopsy. Now, that median time has decreased to 9 calendar days. In addition, administrative time is saved as the staff do not have to call the laboratory to chase pathology reports that have not been received, and perhaps most importantly – the appointment the patient received at the time of the biopsy never needs to be rescheduled due to delayed results.

“We didn’t believe it was true when we heard that we would get the report in 5 days – and now we have it in just a couple of days and can communicate the diagnosis to our patients.”

Another success factor has been the close collaboration and the fact that Inify has developed both referral and report in cooperation with urologists. “There is a responsiveness to our needs and to what we want to do to make things as good as possible for our patients”, Dr Bergman adds.

He further describes how the pathology reports traditionally look different depending on which pathology unit has provided them, or even which pathologist made the diagnosis. It is not uncommon for the results to be presented in free text. Inify’s report is strictly standardised and graphical, making it efficient for urologists to interpret the results, with the goal of minimising the risk of misinterpretation.

“Until now, nobody had listened to what we clinicians want, but Inify has done exactly that, and they have developed a report that is graphically appealing. It’s simple, but effective. You can clearly see where the cancer is located and where the biopsies have been taken.”

Although the cancer investigation takes place at Capio Urosurgical Center, the actual treatment of the region’s patients takes place at one of the larger hospitals. In the case of further referral, Inify’s report provides support and increased clarity to the treating clinician when planning for surgery or radiation.

“The visual report can be used when we discuss with colleagues, but also to show to the patient. In the past, we may have drawn and made sketches ourselves, but now we use the report where you show with color and clarity where cancer is found.”

According to Martin, this creates security, as urologists often face difficult trades-off regarding the treatment of the patient. Decision about radiation, surgery, or possibly active surveillance, where the patient is followed over time, but no immediate treatment is initiated, are largely based on the pathology report. This is why it is so crucial that the report is reliable.

“The digital workflow is a prerequisite for safe and effective care- that you work digitally from start to finish. There should be no intermediate steps involving paper, scanning, or manual transfer of data from one system to another. It should be digital and in the same system all the way through. The clinic’s urologists have a well-integrated workflow, where they access the tailored referral directly from their electronic medical record. The referral is designed to be easy, intuitive and minimise the number of clicks.

“You can tell that it has been developed in collaboration with urologists,” says Martin.

At Inify, the referral provides clear information to the pathologists and becomes an important link in the communication between clinicians and diagnosticians. The pathology report then reflects the information provided during the biopsy exam and gives immediate feedback to the urologist.