Smart Phones and Medicine

Teledermoscopy enables rapid transmission of dermoscopic images via e-mail or specific web-application and studies have demonstrated a high, 91%, concordance between face-to-face diagnosis and remote diagnosis of such images. Further to this, telediagnosis of melanocytic skin neoplasms achieved a diagnostic accuracy of 83% versus the conventional histopathologic diagnosis. Mobile teledermoscopy is the combination of such approaches enabling transfer of images captured with cellular phones coupled with a pocket dermatoscope and preliminary studies have demonstrated the feasibility and potential of its use in triage of pigmented lesions. Such applications are of benefit to physicians in enabling easy storage of data for follow-up or referral of images for expert second opinion and may facilitate a “person-centered health system” for patients with numerous moles and pigmented skin lesions who could forward images for evaluation.

Semin Cutan Med Surg. 2009 Sep;28(3):203-5. Mobile teledermoscopy–melanoma diagnosis by one click?

More data just means more data. Someone – or some thing – has to interpret all of the information generated by new technologies. Too bad we are creating a health care system with all the responsiveness of a snail on downers.

Model that we are creating: A federal bureaucrat commissions a study, to be vetted by a centralized board, to be further vetted by a state panel, to be implemented by a local health care provider, and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….

Model real-life Millenials will someday use for medical diagnostics: “There’s an app for that.”

I’m exaggerating for effect so don’t get too hung up on the potential accuracy of the prediction. You get the point.

Yell at me in the comments or whatever.