Mobile Teledermatology

Abstract

     The topic of this paper is the quickly spreading new medical phenomenon of Mobile Dermatology.  The objective of this report is to develop a basic understanding of how this technology is being utilized and determine whether if it is truly feasible in today’s world. 

Introduction

     The mobile phone is truly becoming a global beast, immersing itself into the daily lives of citizens in every culture around the globe. The world is becoming a much smaller place and technology has been rapidly advancing and spreading.  For the past few years software houses and the makers of mobile phones have gotten together and begun pushing the public worldwide toward the mobile smartphone.  Plain phones without internet access, cameras and mobile applications are quickly becoming a thing of the past.  Nowadays people do everything with their cellular phones.  With your cellular phone you can find the cheapest gas in the area, find out what time the new hit movie plays at the local cinema, remotely turn on and off the lights at your home, book an airlines flight, listen to and download your favorite tunes and watch a movie from Netflix, all on your mobile phone.  Today mobile phones are like Duck -Tape, they now have a thousand and one uses.  It appears the cellular phone is now making its way into the medical profession.  For years there have been medical applications used by medical professionals on their PDA’s.  From software to help with making a diagnosis, to applications to help with avoiding contraindications, and countless medical desk references.  Whatever demand the public wants to place on their phone, someone finds a way to make it happen.

     The following quote was taken from a 2008 article published on the website www.plosone.org.  The article discussed the use of medical imaging by cell phone.  “According to World Health Organization reports, some three quarters of the world population does not have access to medical imaging.  In addition, in developing countries over 50% of medical equipment that is available is not being used because it is too sophisticated or in disrepair or because the health personnel are not trained to use it.” [2]  I must say, that when I was given this assignment, the immediate question that comes to mind is why.  Why are doctors using cellular phones to take and send images.  Why don’t they just use a digital camera, upload their images to their personal computer and then send the data to the image processing unit via the internet.  What I overlooked is the fact that every society is not like the one I’m living in.  Here in this American society we have liberal access to some of the world’s leading technology.  There are many countries around the world that don’t have the same level of telecommunications infrastructure that we enjoy here in the United States.  Also the majority of our population is fairly tech-savvy.  We have had the time, money and opportunity to become tech-savvy and develop our infrastructure to support the world’s newest technologies.  Many other nations around the world have not been so fortunate.  When large portions of a nation’s populous are still struggling to fulfill their basic survival needs of things like clean water, public sanitation, enough food to eat and shelter.   It is not a surprise that the people don’t have the time to attend colleges and educate themselves on modern technology.

     “The feasibility of the cellular phone enabled imaging system was tested by imaging a simulation of breast cancer tumors in a medical imaging diagnostic mode and by imaging image a simulation of minimally invasive tissue ablation with irreversible electroporation in a medical imaging intervention mode.” [2] The image below gives a brief overview of how the system works.

      “Mobile teledermatology has recently been shown to be suitable for teledermatology despite limitations in image definition in preliminary studies.  The unique aspect of mobile teledermatology is that this system represents a filtering or triage system, allowing a sensitive approach for the management of patients with emergent skin diseases.” [1]

Conclusion

     As I stated earlier it appears the mobile smart phone of today has many uses.  After reviewing the documents listed in the reference section of this paper I truly believe the mobile phone has found a new home in the medical field.  I believe Mobile Teledermatology will go into widespread use in the future.  It gives poor and underprivileged nations the ability to better treat and diagnose a wider array of diseases more effectively.  The only concern I would have about a system like this is the issue of security.  Protecting patient’s privacy and personal data is a must.  As long as adequate steps are taken to protect patient data I believe this technology will have a bright future.

References

[1] Cesare Massone1, Rainer Hofmann-Wellenhof1, Verena Ahlgrimm-Siess1, Gerald Gabler2, Christoph Ebner1, H. Peter Soyer1*, Initials. (2007). Melanoma screening with cellular phones. Pub Med Central, Plos One, 2(5), Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1868781/

[2]  Yair Granot, Antoni Ivorra, Boris Rubinsky, Initials. (2008). A new concept for medical imaging centered on cellular phone technology. Pub Med Central, Plos One, 3(4), Retrieved from http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0002075