Technical overview of a web-based telemedicine system for wound assessment

This report provides a technical overview of a Web-based telemedicine system for monitoring wounds in patients who do not have immediate access to the services of a consulting physician, including patients at home or in long-term-care facilities. Such a system would allow for the easy transmission and access of digital images of a patient's wounds and would allow multiple types of data required for comprehensive management of a patient's condition to be summarized and displayed. A store-and-forward method of data transmission was chosen for this project, rather than real-time videoconferencing, to limit the use of expensive technology and to maximize convenience for both the patient and the consulting physician. Under the store-and-forward technique, a clinician obtains wound data from the patient, then transmits these data to a Web site where the telemedicine physician can view data from multiple patients at his or her convenience.