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Can you diagnose me now? Good!

Physician Practice Advisor, February 23, 2005

Neither Alexander Graham Bell nor Hippocrates could have imagined it, but Swiss researchers say that the days of the video phone as an effective diagnostic tool for patients in remote or rural areas have arrived.

According to Reuters news service, a study issued by University Hospital of Geneva claims that photos taken of serious wounds on patients by cell phones with built-in digital cameras offer high enough resolution that physicians can effectively diagnose proper treatment from viewing them. Doctors compared in-person physical examination of leg ulcers in 52 patients to examinations of pictures of the wounds taken by first-generation camera phones, and came to a high level of consensus in their diagnoses.

The report, which was published in the February issue of the Archives of Dermatology, stated that if physicians were able to examine photos such as these and give treatment orders to visiting nurses in these remote areas, "the transport of the patient... to the hospital or the physician's office could be replaced, and this approach could potentially save the health care system money."

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