Mobile teledermoscopy--melanoma diagnosis by one click?

Abstract

Mobile telemedicine integrates wireless communications for different telemedical applications, such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants, and with the implementation of modern wireless telecommunication, wireless local area network and satellite communication is a reality. New generation cellular phones or personal digital assistants have overcome limitations of image quality seen in older devices and, with dermatology being a visual profession, mobile teledermatology is perhaps the most recent development in this field. Mobile teledermatology may provide a triage service aimed toward management of patients with emergent skin disease or for follow-up with patients requiring systemic treatment. Teledermoscopy enables rapid transmission of dermoscopic images via e-mail or specific web-application and studies have demonstrated a high, 91%, concordance between face-to-face diagnosis and remote diagnosis of such images. Further to this, telediagnosis of melanocytic skin neoplasms achieved a diagnostic accuracy of 83% versus the conventional histopathologic diagnosis. Mobile teledermoscopy is the combination of such approaches enabling transfer of images captured with cellular phones coupled with a pocket dermatoscope and preliminary studies have demonstrated the feasibility and potential of its use in triage of pigmented lesions. Such applications are of benefit to physicians in enabling easy storage of data for follow-up or referral of images for expert second opinion and may facilitate a "person-centered health system" for patients with numerous moles and pigmented skin lesions who could forward images for evaluation. The incidence of skin cancers has reached epidemic proportions among whites and the trend is still going upward. Mobile teledermatology and teledermoscopy may be implemented as a triage or screening tool for malignant tumors to facilitate early detection and diagnosis, which is crucial for improved patient outcomes. While the legal aspects concerning teleconsultations need to be evaluated, the communications technologies provide a unique opportunity for physicians and patients alike and we foresee a place for these tools in dermatology soon.