title: [Teleophthalmology as an auxiliary approach for the diagnosis of infectious and inflammatory ocular diseases: evaluation of an asynchronous method of consultation].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of teleophthalmology as an auxiliary approach for diagnosis of infectious and inflammatory ocular diseases and to study the main problems associated with the conclusion reached by consultation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred and thirty three 35 mm slides (retinography or biomicroscopy photos) were digitalized and stored in a Compact Disc to be later analyzed in a computer monitor by two consultants, specialists in uveitis. The consultants filled out a form and a questionnaire, indicating the diagnosis and probable treatment for the analyzed cases also the main difficulties found to reach a conclusion of the consultation. The Kappa statistic, an assessment of the change-corrected agreement (reproducibility) among consultants, was calculated. Kappa values of > 0.7 indicated excellent agreement; values between 0.4 and 0.7 indicated fair to good agreement and values of < 0.4 indicated poor agreement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Agreement between the consultants and the final diagnosis was of 73.5%. Treatment suggestion or management was not possible in 8% of the cases for consultant A and in 10.4% for consultant B. The higher agreement rate among consultants, relating to the reasons that rendered diagnosis difficult, was found in relation to "lack of clinical data" and "low quality of images".
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Teleophthalmology, through the asynchronous method, was an efficient means for diagnosis of patients with infectious and inflammatory ocular diseases. The main problems affecting the teleophthalmology consultation were lack of detailed clinical data and low quality of the images.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Oftalmologia, UNIFESP, São Paulo, SP.
authors.forename: Luciana Peixoto dos Santos
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Finamor
authors.forename: Maria Cristina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Muccioli
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Singulem
authors.forename: Paulo R L
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: Rubens
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Belfort
mesh_terms: D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological; D006801:Humans; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019113:Telepathology / Q000379:methods*; D014605:Uveitis / Q000175:diagnosis*