Telemicroscopy in Pathology Diagnosis

Abstract

Telepathology, derived from the Greek words tele, or “far off,” and pathologia, literally, “study of the emotions,” is a branch of telemedicine in which information about tissue or body fluid samples obtained at one location is transmitted to a distant site for analysis. in its broadest sense, telepathology can be thought of as encompassing any form of remote information transfer about specimens harboring potential disease processes, including verbal communication via telephone. in a majority of cases, however, the term is used to describe interactions involving transmission of microscopic images, or telemicroscopy. Such transmission can occur through a wide variety of media; sharing of printed images is one venerable mechanism that persists in robust form to this day, facilitated and expedited by efficient express-mail systems. Increasingly, however, the terms telepathology and telemicroscopy have acquired the connotation of rapid electronic transmission of digitized images. Facsimile transmission of micrographs is a rudimentary version of this process, but most modern systems employ some form of digital camera attached to a microscope.