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Focal Point ™

  FocalPoint GS™ is an automated imaging system designed to assist in the primary screening of SurePath cervical slides. It is now used widely in North America and Europe.

It is designed to scan the cytology slides with a high-speed video microscope and then specially designed integrated "field of view" computers collect and process the image using patented algorithms to interpret the images and classify the slides.

The system detects morphologic changes associated with epithelial abnormalities and specimen adequacy. It also ranks and sorts the slides and places the slide location in order of their likely hood of being abnormal. The system automatically stores the location of the

                       10 most relevant "fields of view" (FOV) for each slide.

 The system also has the capability of

                                archiving up to 25% for "no further review".

 These slides are considered as negative.

 The remaining 75% are placed into 5 quintiles depending on the score allocated by the FocalPoint™ GS. Slides placed in the first quintile are considered to contain the highest probability of abnormal cells. Slides in the fifth quintile contain the highest possibility of normal cells although abnormal cannot be excluded. No other automated imaging system can offer this feature.

 These algorithms enable FocalPoint™ GS to work on normally processed SurePath LBC slides and no special staining is required therefore eliminating the need for further retraining on specific stains.

 The same slide, which has been read by the cytoscreener, can be read by FocalPoint™GS and vice versa. Screeners who are used to screening SurePath need only be trained on the techniques of using the Location Guided Screener [ LGS]

 Data from the Focal PointÔ GS can be transferred to a LGS directly if it is connected to FocalPoint or using a portable hard drive if the LGS is situated on another site.

  Focal Point™ operation 

  36 x 8 slides tray can be loaded into the input hopper. A total of 288 slides.       

 Once loaded the machine can be left to run.  Slide trays, which have been processed, can be taken out and new slide trays added whilst the machine is running.

 When the Focal PointÔ GS starts a touch sensor verifies the presence of the slide to be examined

A bar code reader identifies individual slide and matches it to patient reports

The system analyses up to 4 gigabytes of data on each slide

Information produced can be stored on a portable hard drive for transfer to a remote location or transferred to Location Guided Screener directly if it is in same location.

 After each tray of 8 slides is processed the system automatically checks the integrity of the optical, mechanical and computer components to ensure reliable, accurate results.

  Tripath in Belgium constantly monitors the Focal PointÔ GS via a telephone link.