Efficacy of teleradiology and telepathology in dentistry

对牙科放射科和病理科电话会议的效果进行评估，包括发送图像所需的时间、图像的诊断质量和系统的处理。还审查了基于NTT的电视电话会议系统的管理。结果如下：1)常规诊断可接受JPEG20：1有损压缩的CT、MRI和平片图像的传输质量。检查的14幅病理图像在质量上也可以接受无损压缩。2)对于3000~10000MB的影像数据，20：1有损压缩平均需要2min，无损压缩平均需要30min。病理图像数据需要更多的时间。因此，在这种情况下，实时电话会议是不现实的。另一方面，视频电话-电话会议系统被评价为很有前途，因为图像可以立即发送和观察。这有助于双方讨论这一案件。(4)病理图像质量远低于原始图像，尤其是中、低倍放大图像。即使在该系统中，所有的放射学图像也能被接受。5)由于双方的讨论在一定程度上弥补了传输图像质量较低的问题，拟议的电视电话-电话会议系统在实际情况下将被接受。6)虽然ISDN64的使用是有利的，因为它在日本各地都可以使用，但需要传输技术的基础设施来开发使用放射和病理诊断图像的更高效的电话会议系统。

The efficacy of the teleconference between radiology and pathology departments in dental field was evaluated in examining the time required to send images, the diagnostic quality of the images, and the handling of the systems. The management of the NTT-based videophone-conference system was also examined. The results were as follows : 1) The quality of the transmitted CT, MRI and plain radiologic images in JPEG 20 : 1 lossy compression would be accepted in routine diagnostic tasks. The 14 pathologic images examined were also accepted in quality in lossless compression. 2) The radiologic image data ranging from 3,000 to 10,000MB were, on average, required 2 min in 20 : 1 lossy and 30 min in lossless compression. More time was required of the pathologic image data. As a result, the real-time teleconference would not be realistic in such circumstances. On the other hand, 3) the videophone-teleconference system was evaluated to be promising because the images could be sent and observed immediately each other. It helped to discuss the case on both sides. 4) the quality of the pathologic images was, however, far inferior to the original, especially in low-and middle-magnification. All of the radiologic images were accepted even in this system. 5) Since the lower quality of the transmitted images was somewhat compensated with the discussion of both sides, the proposed videophone-teleconference system would be accepted in the real situation. 6) Although the usage of the ISDN64 is advantageous because it is available through all over Japan, the infrastructure of the transmission technology would be required in to develope more-efficient teleconference system using radiologic and pathologic diagnostic images.