Previous experience in teleradiology could serve as a first lesson to telepathologists.
The author draws the following conclusions from twenty years of experience with teleradiology and in telemedicine in general. 1) Standardise now. Use existing standards, keep protocols open for other partners. The use of "protected" or "slightly" modified standards will not open the market. On the contrary, it will slow down developments in telepathology. How many manufacturers are capable of exchanging images over normal communication lines (analog or ISDN) with others than themselves? 2) Develop adequate user-interfaces. Priority levels should be set. The display has to adapted to the user. For pathologists this means using a microscope to view the images that have been sent [11]. For radiologists this means a dynamic user-interface adapted to the radiologists needs and wishes and which provides the best possible working environment [5]. 3) Integration with the HIS. The purchase and installation of telemedicine equipment should be integrated in a whole informatisation strategy and not be considered as a standalone act.
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Dept. of Radiology and Medical Imaging, University Hospital of the Free University of Brussels, Belgium.
D003195:Computer Communication Networks / Q000592:standards*; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000592:standards*; D010338:Pathology, Clinical / Q000592:standards*; D019113:Telepathology / Q000592:standards*; D019112:Teleradiology / Q000592:standards*