Information about principles of pulse oximeters: history,
applications, limitations, bibliography
An article published in February 2005 regarding wound
management using camera phones.
Telemedical Wound Care
Using a New Generation of Mobile Telephones
A Feasibility
Study
Ralph Peter Braun, MD; Jean L. Vecchietti, MD; Luc Thomas,
MD; Christa Prins, MD; Lars E. French, MD; Aron J.
Gewirtzman; Jean-Hilaire Saurat, MD; Denis Salomon,
MD
Arch Dermatol. 2005;141:254-258.
Background Leg ulcers
are an important cost factor in health care systems.
It has been shown that a
telemedical wound care consultation can improve quality
of care
and
help reduce costs. In this study, we evaluated
the feasibility of telemedical wound care using a new
generation of mobile
telephones with integrated cameras.
Observations Three physicians separately evaluated 61 leg ulcers for
the following 9 variables: epithelialization,
fibrin, necrosis, and granulation tissue at the
center and normal border, erythema, cyanosis,
eczema, and
hyperpigmentation
at the periphery. One physician performed the
face-to-face consultation (gold standard), and 2 others
performed
the remote evaluation. The image was obtained
with the mobile telephone and immediately sent via e-mail.
To
measure the agreement of the evaluation among
the
3 physicians, we used Cohen statistics. Overall,
the
agreement between
the remote and face-to-face evaluations was very
good, with values of up to 0.94 The image quality
was judged
to be good in 36 cases (59%) and very good in
12 (20%). The participants felt comfortable making
a diagnosis
based on the pictures in 50 cases (82%).
Conclusion Although this study was performed with the first generation
of these devices, we
were
able to
demonstrate the feasibility of such a telemedical
wound care consultation.
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