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6th ESACP Congress, Heidelberg, April 7-11, 1999 |
A048
Telepathology includes different modes of operation for remote diagnosis.
Among these, telemicroscopy (TM) that regards the use of a remote
microscope driven by a pathologist located at a distance, is receiving
increasing attention. Aim of this study was to assess the performance of
a static telemicroscopy system (STMS) as a remote frozen section service.
Features of a STMS include near real-time still-image transmission, provision
of a low-magnification overview image, 'navigation' through the tissue
at any desired optical magnification, recording in a multimedia record of
all the data relative to the diagnostic session allowing the reconstruction
of the steps performed by the pathologist in rendering diagnosis. Fifty-three
consecutive intraoperative frozen section cases were examined by 3 expert
pathologists. Each pathologist examined all the cases twice, first by TM
and then by conventional light microscopy (LM). The pathologist could
render the diagnosis (positive or negative) or defer the case. Single slide
session time was registered, distinguishing among microscope setting time,
video images capture and transmission time, and pathologist's viewing time.
Overall concordance between the diagnosis rendered by TM and LM was 91%.
Compared with the truth diagnosis established by a consensus panel,
concordance were 88% and 95% for TM and LM, respectively. The deferral
rate was 5.8% and 4% for TM and LM, respectively. Average session time for
TM was 7.9 min per slide. Preliminary results suggest that a STMS can be
a useful and user friendly tool for a remote frozen section service.
A FEASIBILITY STUDY OF A STATIC TELEMICROSCOPY SYSTEM FOR A REMOTE
FROZEN SECTION SERVIE
DeMichelis F, Eccher C, Clemente C, Migliore G, Dalla Palma P,
Forti S, Boi S
ITC-IRST, Povo, TN, Italy