Telemedicine/Telepathology System for Hawaii

A new project called the Rural Telemedicine and Telepathology Distance Learning network of Hawaii will bring specialized medical services and distance learning statewide to rural, underserved communities in Hawaii. The project is being funded by a U.S.$500,000 grant from the Rural Utilities Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Washington, DC, USA).

Specifically, the new system will provide education and training to medical pathology residents; provide distance-learning services to health professionals, rural patients, and community members; and give rural Hawaiian communities access to specialized medical care, especially for chronic conditions. The primary provider of telepathology and telemedicine applications will be Trestle Holdings, Inc. (Irvine, CA, USA).

"Utilizing remote telepathology will increase our productivity by enabling our pathologists to share information almost instantly,” explained Dr. Glenn Furuya, medical director of Clinical Labs of Hawaii. "This revolutionizes our second-opinion consultations and frozen-section reviews, and reduces the time needed for diagnosis.”

In Hawaii, where communities are separated by the ocean, telepathology can shave days off the time required for a doctor to receive an expert diagnosis of a tissue sample. Currently, slides are shuttled back and forth among the islands by courier, and it can take three to five days for a doctor to get an expert "read” of a slide.




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Trestle Holdings