Original articleMobile teledermatology in the developing world: Implications of a feasibility study on 30 Egyptian patients with common skin diseases
Section snippets
Setting, recruitment, and data collection
The study was conducted in November 2008. The study population included 30 patients with skin disease randomly selected from the outpatient clinic of the Department of Dermatology, Venereology, and Andrology at Al Hussein University Hospital of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. Eligibility criteria were the following: (1) a patient with visible skin lesions; and (2) the patient or the patient's guardian indicated willingness to participate in the study through informed oral consent. Both
Results
The software-enabled mobile telephone was successful in transmitting the medical information and dermatologic photographs of 30 patients with skin disease to an online database without any technical issues. The two senior teledermatologists were able to view all 30 cases via the World Wide Web–based interface. Finally, the on-site physician successfully retrieved the diagnoses and comments of the teleconsultants through the same mobile telephone.
Diagnoses rendered by the on-site resident
Findings, limitations, and implications
The requirement for Internet-capable computers has long hindered adoption of store-and-forward teledermatology using digital cameras in underdeveloped parts of the world. Fortunately, in recent years, modern telecommunications technology has rapidly advanced such that mobile telephones are now capable of transmitting high-resolution dermatologic images to remote specialists via wireless connectivity. Coupled with the remarkable expansion of mobile telephone use and cellular network coverage in
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Cited by (0)
Development of ClickDoc's teledermatology function was supported by the GSM (Global Systems for Mobile Communications) Association's Development Fund and Qualcomm's Wireless Reach initiative.
Disclosure: ClickDoc, used in this study, was developed by the United States–based mobile telemedicine company ClickDiagnostics. Mr Chowdhury is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of ClickDiagnostics. Dr Ayad is a consultant for ClickDiagnostics. Drs Tran and Kovarik, Ms Weinberg, Mr Cherng, Dr Monir, and Dr El Hariri have no conflicts of interest to declare.