There have been many recent studies regarding the use of
mobile devices for medical image capture and imaging from
multiple disciplines. Prior to increasingly widespread use of
smartphone cameras, studies in the early 2000s concentrated
on technical aspects of using digital cameras for sharing of
diagnostic images in early telemedicine models [3–6]. While
there have been some studies focused on diagnostic imaging,
many of these studies have come from specialties other than
radiology [7–10]. For example, orthopedics [7, 9] and ophthalmology
[8] have demonstrated an interest in smartphone
photography for clinical management. Padmasekara et al.
2012 [7] exhibited strong inter-rater agreement amongst orthopedic
surgeons when comparing smartphone iPhone 3GS
images of distal radial head fractures interpreted on the iPhone
itself via multimedia messaging (MMS) when compared to
digitized PACS images. Additionally, Bullard et al. 2013 [9]
from the emergency department demonstrated that mobile
phone images of CT scans appeared to provide adequate imaging
for triaging neurosurgical patients to a level 1 trauma
center with strong inter-reader agreement that increased upon
adding imaging to available clinical data. While these studies
demonstrated the adequacy of mobile capture images as compared
to digitized images, there are fewer studies demonstrating
comparisons between mobile capture images and original
film radiographs. Addressing the controversy of loss in image
quality by digital camera capture, a dentistry study in 2009
[11] did not find loss of critical information with digital camera
capture compared to original film radiographs, while a
study in 2001 [12] did note that consumer-level digital cameras
were understandably of much poorer quality compared to
commercial-grade digital cameras. Noting that the resolution
of mobile capture images is most certainly less than the original
film radiographs, there are scenarios in which this tradeoff
may be acceptable. Many underserved or rural areas without
specialists in place would benefit from the ability to quickly
and easily share images of film radiographs with trained
radiologists across the world, especially when diagnoses may
be vital to altering patient management. Subsequently, there is
a need for collecting data comparing mobile phone capture to
original film radiographs, while prior data has generally compared
mobile phone capture to digitized images. The ability to
digitize film radiographs is often inapplicable and lacking
from many underserved or rural areas without PACS or advanced
hardware in place. Furthermore, there is a paucity of
specialty-trained or in some cases, formally licensed radiologists,
in many of these regions, which leads to reliance upon
those who may not have sufficient training for diagnostic interpretation.
Diagnoses made in rural clinical practices in developing
nations sometimes require the consultation of a
board-certified radiologist from abroad; smartphone capture
could increase access to such radiologists.