What Is “Telemedicine” and What Does It Mean for a Pediatric Surgeon?

Nalugo, Margaret; Craner, Domenic; Schwachter, Marc; Ponsky, Todd A.

doi:10.1055/s-0034-1386647

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…An efficient approach towards histopathological diagnostics is a key element in the advancement of health care systems. The global access to the internet leads to increasing possibilities in telemedicine 8 . A rapid histological investigation can open up the possibility for better therapeutic decisions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telepathological evaluation of paediatric histological specimens in support of a hospital in Tanzania

Voelker¹,

Poetzl²,

Strehl³

et al. 2020

Afr H. Sci.

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Background/Objective: In a project of telepathology (TP) between German pathologists and a hospital in Tanzania, trained technical assistants have uploaded digital histological images onto the internet-based platform ipath. The diagnoses from 486 paediatric specimens were analysed. Methods: The investigation included diagnoses, either primarily done via TP or secondarily after a further workup of the paraffin-embedded tissue, which was sent to Germany for cases which could not be solved via TP. In the latter, the initial TP-diagnoses were compared with the results after re-evaluation. Results: The median age was 11 years. The cohort comprised 390 benign diseases (80.2%) and 96 malignant diseases (19.8%). For benign diseases, the most frequent anatomic sites were lymph nodes, skin, and soft tissue, breast, and head&- neck. Frequent diagnoses were non-specific inflammations and benign tumors. In malignant diseases, the most sites were lymph nodes, skin, soft tissue, head&neck, and ovary and the most frequent diseases sarcomas and lymphomas. The paraffin embedded tissue of 179 cases (36.3%) was shipped to Germany. With the concordance analysis, we could discover the man- datory necessity for the possibility of second opinion in difficult cases. Conclusion: An exclusively TP-support cannot meet all requirements of modern medical diagnostics. The education of local pathologists is imperative. Keywords: Telepathology; low income country; ipath; paediatric.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telepathological evaluation of paediatric histological specimens in support of a hospital in Tanzania

Voelker¹,

Poetzl²,

Strehl³

et al. 2020

Afr H. Sci.

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“…Telemedical support given by experts from industrial countries can lead to an improvement in health-care systems in low-income countries. 8 The rapid histological evaluation of biopsy specimens is useful for better planning of therapeutic decisions against a background of limited resources. After starting our TP project 10 years ago, we could achieve an acceptable level of diagnostic accuracy, adapted to meet the requirements of the currently available medical care.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-evaluation of challenging telepathological diagnoses in support of a hospital in Tanzania

Voelker

Strehl

Stuefe³

et al. 2019

J Telemed Telecare

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Since 2007, a hospital in Tanzania has been supported with histopathological reports via telepathology (TP) by German pathologists. For this, the Internet-based platform iPath is used. The aim of this study was to analyse the rate of discrepancies in defined diagnostic groups. After shipment of paraffin-embedded tissue to Germany, specimens were processed according to recent diagnostic standards. All diagnoses were grouped into eight benign and 11 malignant main categories. The comparison comprised the following categories: 1, identical diagnosis; 2, mild discordance; 3, correct distinction between benign and malignant process, 4, false malignant; 5, false benign; and 6, no primary diagnosis possible. The cohort comprised 396 benign and 336 malignant diseases. Of the benign diseases, 62% were category 1, 23% category 2, 2% category 3, 6% category 4 and 7% category 6. Of the malignant diseases, 42% were category 1, 16% category 2, 12% category 3, 14% category 5 and 15% category 6. Exclusive support with static TP cannot meet all requirements of modern medical diagnostics. However, the project shows a approach for how pathologists in industrial countries can help low-income countries. In difficult cases, the opportunity for a final work-up using additional methods must be given for useful diagnostic purposes.

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“…In the definition of telemedicine, the World Health Organization has adopted the following description: "The delivery of health care services, where distance is a critical factor, by all health care professionals using information and communication technologies for the exchange of valid information for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease and injuries, research and education, and for the continuing education of health care providers, all in the interests of advancing the health of individuals and their communities". In another definition, telemedicine is defined as the proper transfer of images and health data, for the purpose of providing the long-distance patients with better healthcare services [11][12][13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determining of Optimal Telemedicine Communication Technologies with Regards to Network Interactive Modes: A Delphi Survey

Shanbehzadeh

Kazemi-Arpanahi²,

Mahbubi³

2021

Front Health Inform

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Introduction: Different communication services with varying bandwidth are used to send information in the form of telemedicine technology. Bandwidth management, as defined in telemedicine technology, refers to using the desirable communication services according to the type of transaction and the information size to be transferred. Selection of communication services must be in such a way to result in minimum latency in the process of sending information and maintaining maximum cost-effectiveness.Material and Methods: This is an applied research which was conducted in 2019 by questionnaire survey amongst 60 participants, specialized in health information technology and medical informatics, who are working in hospitals and educational institutions of Tehran. Likert rating scale was used to quantify the research questions. Finally, by analyzing each weighted average, this study revealed the desirable communication services that correspond to the required transactions for deployment of telemedicine.Results: Transfer of multimedia information, using synchronized teleconferencing via primary low bandwidth technologies, had the lowest number average (0.96) and transmission of hybrid data (combination of picture, text, multimedia templates in synchronized or asynchronized modes) via Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) technology had the highest average (4.96).Conclusion: Selection of communication services, with regard to its convergence with the information size and the type of their application, plays a significant role in controlling network traffic and preventing latency in the process of sending information in the context of telemedicine technology. High bandwidth communication services should be used for those telemedicine systems, which are offering services to many users, as well as those in which real-time transmission of information is essential. It needs to be pointed out that with regard to the cost-effectiveness of sending information, it is necessary to use low-cost services with low bandwidth for transfer of light weight information as well as for asynchronous applications in which latency in the process of information transfer is not detrimental.

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What Is “Telemedicine” and What Does It Mean for a Pediatric Surgeon?

Cited by 7 publications

References 29 publications

Telepathological evaluation of paediatric histological specimens in support of a hospital in Tanzania

Telepathological evaluation of paediatric histological specimens in support of a hospital in Tanzania

Re-evaluation of challenging telepathological diagnoses in support of a hospital in Tanzania

Determining of Optimal Telemedicine Communication Technologies with Regards to Network Interactive Modes: A Delphi Survey

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