Frozen-section diagnosis by wireless telepathology and ultra portable computer: use in pathology resident/faculty consultation

Residents in anatomic pathology are allowed increased diagnostic responsibility including the initial interpretation of intraoperative frozen-section consultations during their years of training. This frozen-section responsibility requires staff faculty backup for diagnostic confirmation and consultation. In this study, we tested a telepathology system using an ultra portable computer with a 4.5-in diagonal screen (scrolled image size of 2.5 × 1.75 in, width × height) and both wireless Local Area Network (LAN) final connection from a DSL and wireless Wide Area Network (WAN) telecommunications. The diagnostic agreement for a chief resident/faculty staff duo using telepathology for 100 consecutive frozen-section cases (50 with wireless LAN final connection and 50 with wireless WAN) with limited clinical information was compared with the original frozen-section diagnosis rendered by other staff pathologists. There was diagnostic agreement for 95 of the 100 cases. For the 5 that were discordant, 2 were deemed to be errors in the original frozen-section diagnosis; 1 was not clinically important; and 2 were believed to have potential clinical implications. For the 2 having potential clinical importance, the absence of knowledge of the gross findings in each case and the preoperative biopsy results for one specimen contributed to the misinterpretation of the frozen sections. The median time between transmission of image(s) from the chief resident to the faculty consultant until diagnosis by the latter was 1 minute 42 seconds for wireless WAN and 51 seconds for the wireless LAN final connection to the display device. We conclude that a telepathology system using an ultra portable computer and wireless telecommunications is useful for frozen-section consultation between an experienced resident and a faculty member in pathology.