Experience with telepathology at a tertiary cancer centre and a rural cancer hospital.
BACKGROUND
Telepathology allows quick and timely access to an expert opinion, no matter where the patient is located. We analysed the experience with the use of telepathology between a tertiary cancer centre and a rural cancer hospital.


METHODS
Ninety-three cases were analysed in which static telepathology was used to obtain a consultation between Tata Memorial Centre and Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Hospital at Barshi, a rural area.


RESULTS
Successful teleconsultation was achieved in all cases. A diagnosis was offered in 92 cases (98.9%) and was deferred in 1 case (1.1%). Complete concordance, clinically unimportant minor discrepancy and hedged diagnosis were obtained in 83 cases (90.2%). Major discrepancies were encountered in 9 cases (9.7%). The number of images per case ranged from 3 to 27 (average: 7 images). Images were of diagnosable quality in 89.2% of cases. Most of the cases (77.4%) were reported within 3 days; 32.2% were reported within 8 hours (a single working day) and 45.1% within 1-3 days.


CONCLUSIONS
Telemedicine can be effectively used to bridge the gap between medically underprivileged, geographically distant rural areas and advanced centres using the static store and forward methodology.
Desai
Sangeeta
S
Department of Pathology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Dr E. Borgess Road, Parel, Mumbai 400012, Maharashtra, India. sangeetabdesai@rediffmail.com
Patil
Rajasa
R
Chinoy
Roshni
R
Kothari
Ashok
A
Ghosh
T K
TK
Chavan
Manoj
M
Mohan
Ashok
A
Nene
B M
BM
Dinshaw
K A
KA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002173:Cancer Care Facilities / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002648:Child; D006780:Hospitals, Rural / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D019114:Remote Consultation; D019113:Telepathology / Q000458:organization & administration*