Jumping into the future using teledermoscopy.
BACKGROUND
Teledermoscopy uses telecommunication technologies to transfer images of pigmented skin lesions via the Internet for teleconsultation.


METHODS
Clinical and dermoscopic images of 66 and 43 pigmented skin lesions achieved in two consecutive studies were sent by e-mail to dermatologists with different degrees of experience in dermoscopy for a telediagnosis. All lesions included in these studies were surgically excised and diagnosed histopathologically.


RESULTS
The diagnostic concordance between the face-to-face diagnosis and the telediagnosis was 91% in the first study, whereas, in the second study, it varied from 76.7%-95.3%. The accuracy of the diagnoses in both studies was not related to the quality of the images, but did highly depend on the level of diagnostic difficulty of a given pigmented skin tumor and on the level of experience of each observer.


CONCLUSIONS
Teleconsultation of dermoscopic images of pigmented skin lesions via e-mail provides a similar degree of diagnostic accuracy as face-to-face diagnosis when the diagnosis is made by a dermatologist confident with dermoscopy.
Piccolo
Domenico
D
Department of Dermatology, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.
Peris
Ketty
K
Chimenti
Sergio
S
Argenziano
Giuseppe
G
Soyer
H Peter
HP
D003880:Dermatology; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology*; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D019113:Telepathology / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D014481:United States