Elsevier

Survey of Ophthalmology

Volume 44, Issue 1, July–August 1999, Pages 61-72
Survey of Ophthalmology

Articles
Telemedicine and Ophthalmology

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0039-6257(99)00059-4Get rights and content

Abstract

Technology to create and move multimedia medical information is creating alternatives to physically transporting patients and health care professionals. Teletechnology is a physician extender, both supplementing and reinventing traditional health care delivery systems. The potential of comprehensive teleophthalmology is compelling. This article provides a historical perspective of telemedicine, describes various teleophthalmology systems, and surveys teleophthalmology in clinical consultation, research, and education programs around the world. It also discusses basic issues in applying teleophthalmology to public health.

Section snippets

History of Telemedicine

Telemedicine is based on networking, a term applicable to groups of computers or groups of people. One of the first modern telemedicine applications was a 1959 two-way television link between the Nebraska Psychiatric Institute in Omaha and the Norfolk State Hospital. Remote mental health consultations were conducted over a distance of 100 miles.73 The first use of teleradiology, perhaps the most refined telemedicine application in use today, occurred the same year.35, 42 Faced with the prospect

Teleophthalmology

Like radiology, pathology, and dermatology, ophthalmology is a visually intensive specialty. Ophthalmologists are trained to interpret images. Like radiologists, who commonly diagnose from radiography films, ophthalmologists are accustomed to diagnosing disease asynchronously from two-dimensional black-and-white imagery or angiograms. Store-and-forward teleophthalmology systems are well suited to sending photographs to specialists for review. Dermatologists, otolaryngologists, and

Summary

Telemedicine, in a recent report to Congress by the US Departments of Commerce and Health and Human Services,

“… holds great potential, especially in rural areas, to greatly improve the quality, access and affordability of health care. It can reduce need for travel in rural areas and provide needed backup and access to specialists for primary care health professionals in these underserved areas.”19

Teleophthalmology is in an experimental phase. The eye's small size and the high degree of training

Method of Literature Search

A search of MEDLINE for articles between 1967 and 1998 yielded little information on teleophthalmology. References are drawn from a variety of sources, including published articles, nonrefereed reports, the Telemedicine Information Exchange Web site, other Internet documents, published conference reports, and personal contacts. Teleophthalmology-related activities described in this article do not include unpublished reports.

Acknowledgements

There are no proprietary relationships of the author or members of her family with any company or product mentioned in the article. Supported in part by an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., New York, New York.

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