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Smartphone‐assisted tele‐gynepathology: A pilot study
Author(s) -
Kumar Harresh,
Tanveer Nadeem,
Dixit Sonali,
Diwan Himanshi,
Naz Farhat
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of obstetrics and gynaecology research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.597
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1447-0756
pISSN - 1341-8076
DOI - 10.1111/jog.14347
Subject(s) - telepathology , medicine , concordance , medical physics , pathology , telemedicine , health care , economics , economic growth
Traditional telepathology techniques like whole slide imaging require expensive equipment and are currently out of reach of the developing countries. However, the improvements in smartphone camera resolution and availability of faster internet have made smartphone‐assisted telepathology possible. Methods A total of 186 cases pertaining to gynecologic pathology reported by single consultant (NT) were retrieved from the records of the histopathology department. A trained histopathologist then photographed representative areas of each case by using the smartphone camera. After a wash off period of 6 months, the images along with the clinical details were sent by Whatsapp Messenger to the same reporting pathologist. The reporting pathologist replied with the diagnosis of each case by using Whatsapp. Results The smartphone diagnosis was concordant in 179/186 (96.2%) cases. The intraobserver concordance rates varied with the organ involved – it was highest for endometrial and myometrial pathology (123/126, 97.6%) lowest for ovarian lesions (08/10, 80%). For cervical pathology, it was 97.2% (35/36) and for fallopian tube pathology it was 92.9% (13/14). Conclusion Although the initial results of this pilot study are encouraging, there is a long way to go before smartphone‐assisted telepathology can be put to routine use for the second opinion. More experience of the pathologists with this technique and faster internet and better smartphone cameras will further improve the concordance of smartphone‐assisted telepathology diagnosis with conventional microscopy diagnosis.