Diagnostic Labs history

In 1946, George Sc hoenander developed the film cassette changer which allowed a series of cassettes to be exposed at a movie frame rate of 1.5 cassettes per second.

Our experienced Radiologists and staff continue the proud tradition begun in the 1950's.

In 1955, the x-ray image intensifier (also called I.I.) was developed and allowed the pick up and display of the x-ray movie using a TV (television) camera and monitor.

By the 1960's, the fluorescent system (which had become quite complex with mirror optic systems to minimize patient and radiologist dose) was largely replaced by the image intensifier/TV combination.

Paul A. Brown, a pathologist who later said he was "amazed at the sky-high test prices charged by hospitals and clinics," founded what was originally Metropolitan Pathological Laboratory in 1967 with $500 and initially ran it out of his Manhattan apartment.

Digital imaging techniques were implemented in the 1970's with the first clinical use and acceptance of the Computed Tomography or CT scanner, invented by Godfrey Hounsfield.

CT imaging (also called CAT scanning for Computed Axial Tomography) was invented in 1972 by Godfrey Hounsfield in England.

Corning Glass Works bought ten percent of its stock in 1973.

By 1975 Corning also had begun marketing white blood cell analyzers to automate one of the last blood tests still being performed manually in clinical laboratories.

In 1977 Corning's health and sciences activities were consolidated into a single operating division with sales amounting to $221 million and net income at 12 percent of the parent company's total.

The company had net income of $3.8 million in fiscal 1978 (the year ended September 30, 1978) on revenues of $53.4 million.

MetPath was, by 1979, challenging Damon Corp. for first place in the clinical laboratory testing field, which had grown into a $12-billion-a-year business.

In 1981 these figures were $374 million and 32 percent, respectively.

MetPath was tops in the clinical laboratory testing field by 1982.

MR imaging was cleared for commercial, clinical availability by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1984 and its use throughout the United States has spread rapidly since.

By 1988 MetPath was again solidly in the black, although SmithKline Beckman Laboratories was doing twice as much annual business in the clinical testing field as MetPath's $350 million.

At the end of 1990 the Laboratory Services segment was placed into a subsidiary named Corning Lab Services Inc.

MetPath, now able to handle more than 1,400 different clinical tests, remained the major unit. It strengthened its regional network in 1991 by the addition of smaller labs, including Clinical Pathology Facility, Inc. in Pittsburgh and Continental Bio-Clinical Laboratories in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

In 1992, however, the company earned $18 million on sales of $317 million.

Also in 1993, Corning acquired, for its Laboratory Services subsidiary, Damon Corp., the nation's fifth largest owner of clinical testing laboratories, with 14 in the United States and one in Mexico and about 220 satellite labs in remote United States locations.

Despite net revenues of $1.63 billion in 1995, Corning Clinical Laboratories lost $52.1 million, after the parent company took a charge of $62 million to increase accounts receivable because of the billings problems.

In 1997 Quest had a net loss of $22.3 million on revenues of $1.53 billion.

In order to meet the needs of the growing practice and accommodate the latest imaging technology, the new partnership relocated in the spring of 2002 to the Bethlehem Medical Arts office building at 5325 Northgate Drive.

In 2008, TridentUSA Health Services was formed with the acquisitions of MobilexUSA and Diagnostic Laboratories and Radiology, combining the nation’s largest portable laboratory and x-ray companies to become the first national provider of beside diagnostics services.