Karlsruhe laboratory completes transition from BD FocalPoint to a digital, AI-assisted workflow with Waters Advanced Diagnostics
Techcyte, the developer of Fusion, the unified anatomic and clinical pathology AI platform, today announced that Cytolab in Karlsruhe, Germany, has transitioned its cervical cytology screening to Techcyte SureView®. The laboratory has been running routine screening on the digital workflow since January 2026.
Cytolab is a cytology laboratory in Karlsruhe that has specialized in the early detection of gynecologic cancers and their precursors since 1968. Its reporting physicians are experienced gynecologists, and the laboratory screens cervical cytology samples referred by office-based practices in the region and beyond.
The laboratory previously screened on BD FocalPoint. Slides are now scanned on site on an Evident Spectral HT2 scanner, uploaded to the Techcyte platform, and reviewed in a standard web browser. SureView presents the relevant images and annotates cells and organisms of interest. The cytologists then assess the case and sign it out. Cytolab currently runs Waters SurePath™ preparations and plans to add Hologic® ThinPrep®.
Installation, training, and onboarding were delivered with Waters Advanced Diagnostics (formerly BD Diagnostic Solutions), the exclusive worldwide distributor of Techcyte SureView.
“We thoroughly enjoy working with the SureView software and the SureView team, and digitization has helped us make tremendous progress,” said Dr. med. Julia Boländer, cytologist, gynecologist, and managing partner at Cytolab. “Our screeners were comfortable with the software and the scanner very quickly after training, and they tell me they are getting through their daily workload faster than they were before. The digital workflow now sits at the center of how we work.”
“Cytolab was among the first laboratories in Europe to take SureView into daily routine use, and their team has been direct with us throughout about what worked and what needed to improve,” said Troy Bankhead, director of Techcyte Europe. “That is what a transition like this needs. The workflow has to hold up under real daily volume, every day.”
“Moving from FocalPoint to a fully digital workflow changes how a laboratory team works day to day, not just which system they log into,” said Sandra Knoethig, Product Manager, women’s health and cancer, Central and Eastern Europe, at Waters Advanced Diagnostics. “Cytolab committed to that early and stayed with it, and the workflow is now a stable part of their routine. That gives us something concrete to show other laboratories in the region.”
Techcyte SureView® is CE-marked under the IVDD in Europe, with IVDR in progress. In the United States, SureView is for Research Use Only.
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About Cytolab
Cytolab – Zytologisches Labor Dr. Börner und Dr. Boländer is a cytology laboratory in Karlsruhe, Germany, specializing since 1968 in the early detection of gynecologic cancers and their precursors. The laboratory provides cytologic diagnostics for office-based physicians in the region and beyond, and all of its reporting physicians are experienced gynecologists. Cytolab is certified to DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 and operates alongside the Praxis für Frauenheilkunde und Naturheilverfahren am Bahnhofplatz, which runs a certified dysplasia clinic. More information at cytolab.de.