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82nd Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

01.06. - 05.06.2011, Freiburg

The reliability of telemedical ENT (ear, nose and throat) consultation

Meeting Abstract

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  • corresponding author Alicja Jodkowska - Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Klinik und Poliklinik für Hals-, Nasen-, Ohrenkrankheiten, Kopf- und Halschirurgie, Greifswald, Germany
  • Werner Hosemann - Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Klinik und Poliklinik für Hals-, Nasen-, Ohrenkrankheiten, Kopf- und Halschirurgie, Greifswald, Germany
  • Achim Beule - Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Klinik und Poliklinik für Hals-, Nasen-, Ohrenkrankheiten, Kopf- und Halschirurgie, Greifswald, Germany

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. 82nd Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Freiburg, 01.-05.06.2011. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2011. Doc11hno11

doi: 10.3205/11hno11, urn:nbn:de:0183-11hno116

Published: August 3, 2011

© 2011 Jodkowska et al.
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Outline

Text

Telemedicine is an application of clinical medicine, where medical information is transferred through interactive audiovisual media for the purpose of consulting. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability of a diagnosis based on transferred video data of laryngeal stroboscopy.

The study included 250 patients (115 female, 135 male, average age of 55±15 years) with suspicion on laryngeal pathology. In each patient demographic data and medical history were obtained. Subsequently laryngeal videostroboscopy was performed, diagnosis established and therapy given. All findings were recorded. This data was transmitted to a masked physician examiner at distance and interval for assessment offline, without patients presence. Again diagnosis and correlated therapy were suggested. The concordance in diagnosis and treatment between both examinations were assessed.

A moderate diagnostic concordance (83.1%) and high treatment decision concordance (94.1%) were observed. Regarding the discrepancy in treatment decision making, in the second examination two unnecessary operations were suggested and in three patients surgery were not to be performed.

These results suggest that telemedical evaluation has comparable reliability to conventional on site examination of laryngeal stroboscopy.

However slight deviations are to be taken into account.