During late 2001 a Telepathology service was established for the National Referral Hospital in Honiara Solomon Islands. This service was implemented using the open source iPath Telepathology system.
In September 2001 we had the chance to help to establish a tiny histology lab at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara Solomon Islands. Before the system was implemented, specimens from the Solomons were sent to Brisbane, a practice that caused 8 or more weeks delay until a diagnosis was received.
To establishe a Telepathology consultation facility for the surgeons in Honiara, a Nikon CoolPix 990 was attached to an existing microscope. Captured images are now sent to a telepathology server in Basel, Switzerland, where thay are reviewed by a number of pathologists. The server records descriptions, images and diagnosis and noties pathologists and keeps track of the process.
If additional images are required pathogists can mark regions of interest and ask for more images, which are then stored along with the existing on the telepathology server.
With the availability of internet connections with 56Kbit/s (currently 19Kbit/s) it will also become possible to use the microscope in Honiara almost in real time.
The service is based on the open source iPath telepathology system, developed at the university of Basel and the DKFZ in Heidelberg, Germany.
Kurt Brauchli
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