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Michael B. Morgan, MD; Myron Tannenbaum, MD, PhD; Bruce R. Smoller, MD

Arch Dermatol. 2003;139:637-640.

Background  Telepathology involves the use of video technology to facilitate remote-site diagnosis. To our knowledge, no studies have compared the reproducibility of real-time telepathology between dermatopathologists with that of traditional 2-headed microscopy in the diagnoses of routine dermatopathologic entities.

Observations  The statistic for both techniques was favorable: 0.76 (telepathology) vs 0.93 (conventional 2-headed microscopy); P = .04. The time taken per case was 42 seconds (telepathology) vs19 seconds (conventional 2 -headed microscopy); P = .003.

Conclusions  Telepathology between 2 remote diagnostic centers offers a feasible means of facilitating the remote-site diagnosis of routine dermatopathologic entities. Although diagnostic accuracy and time taken per case were acceptable with video-assisted diagnosis, conventional microscopy had significantly higher accuracy and shorter time per diagnosis.

From the Departments of Pathology, University of South Florida College of Medicine and the Bay Pines, James Haley Veterans Hospitals, Tampa, Fla (Drs Morgan and Tannenbaum); and the Departments of Dermatology and Pathology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, (Dr Smoller) The authors have no relevant financial interest in this article.