Subspecialty radiology consultation by interactive telemedicine

This investigation tested the hypothesis that interactive, low-resolution telemedicine is an effective method for radiologists' consultations. The case material consisted of radiographs and digital images from patients with 14 paediatric diseases readily diagnosed by imaging, and 10 matched controls. The original images were first evaluated by a general radiologist, who entered a diagnosis. He or she then discussed the case with a paediatric radiologist who had access to the same images via low-resolution interactive video. Following the consultation the general radiologist could change diagnosis. The experimental subjects were three teams of general and paediatric radiologists. Observer-performance and case-comparison methods were used for analysis. The results showed that the general radiologists' diagnostic accuracy improved after telemedicine consultation with the subspecialist, the area under the ROC curve improving from 0.648 to 0.709. The interactive consultation was judged valuable by all participants. We conclude that low-resolution interactive telemedicine is of value for consultation between generalists and subspecialists in radiology.