Improving the histopathologic diagnosis of pediatric malignancies in a low-resource setting by combining focused training and telepathology strategies.
Pediatr Blood Cancer
; 59(2): 221-5, 2012 Aug.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-22315236
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Accurate diagnosis is critical for optimal management of pediatric cancer. Pathologists with experience in pediatric oncology are in short supply in the developing world. Telepathology is increasingly used for consultations but its overall contribution to diagnostic accuracy is unknown. PROCEDURE We developed a strategy to provide a focused training in pediatric cancer and telepathology support to pathologists in the developing world. After the training period, we compared trainee's diagnoses with those of an experienced pathologist. We next compared the effectiveness of static versus dynamic telepathology review in 127 cases. Results were compared by Fisher's exact test.RESULTS:
The diagnoses of the trainee and the expert pathologist differed in only 6.5% of cases (95% CI, 1.2-20.0%). The overall concordance between the telepathology and original diagnoses was 90.6% (115/127; 95% CI, 84.1-94.6%).CONCLUSIONS:
Brief, focused training in pediatric cancer histopathology can improve diagnostic accuracy. Dynamic and static telepathology analyses are equally effective for diagnostic review.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Professional Competence
/
Telepathology
/
Education
/
Health Resources
/
Neoplasms
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Child
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Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
/
Newborn
Language:
En
Journal:
Pediatr Blood Cancer
Journal subject:
HEMATOLOGIA
/
NEOPLASIAS
/
PEDIATRIA
Year:
2012
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: