Teledermatology--high technology or not?
As an alternative to attending a conventional dermatology clinic, patients had a high-resolution conventional photographic image taken by a professional medical photographer. The photographic images were viewed by a dermatologist together with referral details from the general practitioner and any other relevant information from the patient's notes. From the images, a dermatological diagnosis was derived and a management plan for each patient instituted. After treatment, histological assessment of the tumours allowed diagnostic accuracy to be determined. The preliminary diagnostic accuracy (71%) was greater than that of the referring general practitioners (49%). However, when the diagnostic ability of the method to detect the nature of malignant lesions was examined, telemedicine was able to detect malignancies in 94% of cases compared with only 70% detected by general practitioners. The results of the present study indicate that teledermatology is achievable using a low-technology, low-cost approach.
Harrison
P V
PV
Dermatology Department, Queen Victoria Hospital, Morecambe, Lancashire, UK.
Kirby
B
B
Dickinson
Y
Y
Schofield
R
R
D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010781:Photography; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D017216:Telemedicine; D006113:United Kingdom