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6th ESACP Congress, Heidelberg, April 7-11, 1999 |
A078
Electronic communication (telepathology) has been established in various
institutes of pathology within the last years. Primarily designed for the
performance of frozen section services via remote control microscopes, the
gathered experiences in expert consultation are promising that telepathology
can replace the shipping of glass slides and tissue blocks in many cases.
Specific programs which require contemporary point-to-point connections
are still in use; however, asynchronous data transfer (for example via the
internet) are more convenient, especially when connecting different
continents with a time gap of several hours, such as Asia and Europe. The
results of telecommunication performed between the Department of Pathology,
Thoraxklinik Heidelberg and several partners in Austria, Croatia, Germany,
Italy, South Africa have shown that 4 - 6 images acquired at two different
magnifications are sufficient for diagnostic support in most of the cases.
The use of high resolution digital cameras is of advantage compared to that
of conventional CCD cameras due to the increase spatial resolution. The
combination of telepathology with electronic publication offers new
perspectives in diagnostic pathology. The electronic expert consultation
of a specific difficult case can be immediately combined with scientific
data such as an extensive reference on published data related to the case
under consideration. The case can be offered to pathologists interested in
the specific problem within a couple of days. On the other hand, the patient
and clinicians can be provided with the reference data of the specific
diagnosis. The interactive publication as offered by the Electronic Journal
of Pathology and Histology is an additional step to combined electronic
diagnostic communication with electronic publication: Once the authors of an
accepted article have agreed that their article might by used for a second
extended publication by other scientists, additional cases of related
diagnostic problems might be added by various groups of pathologists, and
consecutively published. The first results given by the Electronic Journal of
Pathology and Histology are promising. The combination of electronic
communication and publication can be used for quality assurance in diagnostic
pathology.
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION AND PUBLICATION : A CHALLENGE FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE
IN DIAGNOSTIC PATHOLOGY
Kayser K
Department of Pathology, Thoraxklinik, Heidelberg, Germany
References:
K. Kayser, J. Szymas, RS. Weinstein: Telepathology, Telecommunication,
Electronic Education and Publication in Pathology.
Springer, Heidelberg, New York, 1999