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Telemedicine and e-Health
Acquisition and Evaluation of Radiography Images by Digital Camera
To cite this article:
Stephen W. Cone, Laura R. Carucci, Jinxing Yu, Azhar Rafiq, Charles R. Doarn, Ronald C. Merrell.
Telemedicine and e-Health.
April 2005,
11(2): 130-136.
doi:10.1089/tmj.2005.11.130.
Stephen W. Cone, M.D.Medical Informatics and Technology Applications Consortium, Department of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. Laura R. Carucci, M.D.Department of Radiology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. Jinxing Yu, M.D.Department of Radiology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. Azhar Rafiq, M.D.Medical Informatics and Technology Applications Consortium, Department of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. Charles R. Doarn, M.B.A.Medical Informatics and Technology Applications Consortium, Department of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. Ronald C. Merrell, M.D.Medical Informatics and Technology Applications Consortium, Department of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. To determine applicability of low-cost digital imaging for different radiographic modalities used in consultations from remote areas of the Ecuadorian rainforest with limited resources, both medical and financial. Low-cost digital imaging, consisting of hand-held digital cameras, was used for image capture at a remote location. Diagnostic radiographic images were captured in Ecuador by digital camera and transmitted to a password-protected File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server at VCU Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, using standard Internet connectivity with standard security. After capture and subsequent transfer of images via lowbandwidth Internet connections, attending radiologists in the United States compared diagnoses to those from Ecuador to evaluate quality of image transfer. Corroborative diagnoses were obtained with the digital camera images for greater than 90% of the plain film and computed tomography studies. Ultrasound (U/S) studies demonstrated only 56% corroboration. Images of radiographs captured utilizing commercially available digital cameras can provide quality sufficient for expert consultation for many plain film studies for remote, underserved areas without access to advanced modalities. 
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