Standard technology allows surgeons to accurately diagnose remote patients

This readily available technology has the ability to make clinics more efficient and reliable. A recent study examines the possibilities these tools create, and how they can assist in the diagnosing of patients in remote areas.

In the current issue of The Cleft Palate–Craniofacial Journal, researchers asked whether remote videos could be used to reliably diagnose a cleft lip or palate. Due to lack of funding in developing countries, citizens’ access to medication, medical devices and surgeons is limited. Through Hands Across the World, a nonprofit that provides reconstructive surgery for patients with congenital conditions, the researchers reviewed digital video evaluations of patients with oral clefts.

At a hospital in rural Ecuador, 27 patients were evaluated for oral clefts. Researchers compared in-person and remote video assessments made by two separate craniofacial surgeons. The video was taken with an iPhone, without special lighting or camera enhancements. The surgeons who made in-person and remote evaluations nearly always agreed on how patients with a cleft lip or cleft palate should be treated. Those who assessed patients with an alveolar cleft agreed only about half of the time, likely because of the challenges of performing an oral exam via video.