Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29785181›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of telemedicine and applications2018

On Using a Mobile Application to Support Teledermatology: A Case Study in an Underprivileged Area in Colombia.

Juan Pablo Sáenz, Mónica Paola Novoa, Darío Correal, Bell Raj Eapen

Abstract read
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Article in International journal of telemedicine and applications, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Juan Pablo SáenzDipartimento di Automatica e Informatica, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy.ORCID 0000-0003-0928-3089
Mónica Paola NovoaFundación Universitaria de Ciencias de la Salud, Hospital de San José, Bogotá, Colombia.
Darío CorrealDepartamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Computación, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.ORCID 0000-0001-9502-4504
Bell Raj EapenMcMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe use of mobile applications in dermatology to support remote diagnosis is gaining acceptance, particularly in rural areas, where dermatology services are commonly managed by healthcare personnel with no specialty training. Moreover, ontologies-sets of concepts that represent knowledge in a given domain-are increasingly being used to support medical diagnosis. A specific case is ONTODerm: an ontology to aid dermatological diagnosis. However, there is little information on the combined use of mobile applications and ontologies as support solutions in dermatology.

objectiveAssessing the reliability of ONTODerm as a tool to support remote dermatological diagnosis when used together with a mobile dermatological application in underprivileged areas.

methodsA mobile application that allows characterization of skin lesions was developed, and the information about the lesions was sent to ONTODerm. An exploratory study was conducted in a remote area without access to a dermatologist. A total of 64 dermatological queries were recorded in the application and consulted with ONTODerm. Later, an experienced dermatologist evaluated the characterization and diagnosis of each query to determine the accuracy of the system.

resultsThe results showed that the probability of obtaining a correct diagnosis was between 64.4% and 85.6% with a confidence interval of 95%. A higher accuracy rate was obtained when the skin lesion occurred on the face or when its border was categorized as poorly demarcated.

conclusionsThis study demonstrates the implementation of a teledermatology strategy based on mobile applications and domain ontology-driven knowledge base to provide timely assistance to healthcare professionals. This approach was found to be pertinent in the Colombian rural context, particularly in forest regions, where dermatology specialists are not available. The results of this article do not represent a final validation of the proposed approach; they suggest how the ontology can be improved to effectively support medical staff in marginalized regions.

Identifiers

PMID29785181
PMCPMC5892263

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.