Teledermatology protocol for screening of Skin Cancer*

BACKGROUND Telemedicine refers to the use of technology as improvement of healthcare delivery to places where distance becomes an obstacle. Its use represents a great potential for dermatology, a specialty whose visual analysis phase is essential in diagnosis. OBJECTIVES To analyze the compatibility index of skin cancer diagnoses between primary care and teledermatology, and to validate a protocol for standardization of digital imaging to obtain the reports in teledermatology. METHODS An observational cross-sectional study developed through the census of 333 examination requests, received between January/2012 and July/2012, in the Center for Telemedicine and Telehealth of SES-SC. We used a protocol for photographic lesion standardization, consisting of three steps (panoramic photo, close-up with ruler and dermoscopy). After collection, the data were sent to a virtual site on the Internet, and recorded with the use of an electronic health record containing the images, the skin phototype and demographic characteristics. RESULTS The level of compatibility between the diagnosis of skin cancer in Santa Catarina's primary care and the diagnosis proposed by teledermatology was 19.02%. Proportionally, it was 21.21% for BCC, 44.44% for SCC and 6.98% for MM. The protocol was statistically significant (p <0.05), with an OR of 38.77. CONCLUSION The rate of diagnostic compatibility of skin cancer was low and the use of the protocol optimized the chance of validating requests for examination.