Pocket pathologist: A mobile application for rapid diagnostic surgical pathology consultation

Area of Science:

• Digital pathology
• Medical informatics
• Mobile health

Background:

• Telepathology enables remote expert consultation via digital image transmission.
• Advancements in smartphone technology offer cost-effective and efficient telepathology solutions.
• The Pocket Pathologist application was developed for smartphone-based telepathology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report the development and experience of an iPhone application for rapid diagnostic pathology teleconsultation.
• To evaluate the feasibility of using smartphones for acquiring and transmitting digital pathology images.
• To assess the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of smartphone-based telepathology.

Main Methods:

• Development of a secure, web-based portal for remote image transmission.
• Creation of an iPhone application (Pocket Pathologist) to augment portal functionality.
• Evaluation of smartphone camera image quality using microscope adapters.

Main Results:

• The Pocket Pathologist App, launched in August 2013, simplifies case submission and wireless image uploading.
• Smartphone cameras, when attached to microscopes, produce digital images comparable in quality to commercial microscope cameras.
• The app facilitates easy submission of cases by minimizing data entry fields.

Conclusions:

• Smartphones offer significant potential for telepathology due to portability, internet connectivity, and camera quality.
• The Pocket Pathologist App significantly reduces the cost of digital image creation and teleconsultation.
• This iPhone application provides a user-friendly solution for global telepathology consultations.