Collecting, archiving, and sharing of digitized medical information

Telemedicine is the practice of medicine via telephony. Telemedicine has developed into an affordable, indispensable tool for use by frontline veterinary clinicians, hospitals, and clinics. Board certified specialists are available via telemedicine with little more difficulty than making a long distance telephone call. Current technology allows clinicians to refer cases via the Internet, radio waves, satellite, or land lines. Cases may include typed data, audio clips such as cardiac auscultation, high resolution imagery for radiographs, ultrasound, and microscopy. This article is a primer on digitization and transmission of images.