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This cover of the "Radio News" magazine from 1924 is probably the first illustration of a telemedicine application

While interest in telemedicine has increased in the last few years due to recent advances of ICTs, the concept is not new. The first reference of the subject is probably the famous “Radio Doctor” cover image of the 1924 Radion News Magazine^[1]. One of the first telemedicine applications reported in the scientific literature was probably the project for transmission of radiologic images by telephone between West Chester and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a distance of 24 miles^[2][3].

In the 1970s the number of telemedicine projects started to grow and first real-time applciations are mentioned^[4][5]. The STARPAHC Project, for example, tried to introduce telemedicine in a the rural Papago Indian Reservation in Arizone^[6].

Throughout the 1980s telemedicine speciality specific applications started to emerge, for example telepathology, which was first mentioned in 1986^[7]. In the field of radiology saw the development of the first standard on digital medical imaging which culminated in the release of the DICOM specifications in 1992^[8].

The number of telemedicine applications started to grow rapidly in the 1990s due to availability of Internet and affordable computers and digital imaging solution and the latest technical breakthrough of telemedicine was probably the first transatlantic robotic operation which was performed in 2001 by a surgeon in New York on a patient in Strasbourg^[9].

[edit] References

1. ↑ H. Gernsback. The radio doctor - maybe [cover]. Radio News Magazine, April 1924.
2. ↑ J. Gershen-Cohen, A. G. Cooley. Telognosis. Radiology, 55(4):582–587, Oct 1950.
3. ↑ J. Gershon-Cohen, M. B. Hermel, H. S. Read, B. Caplan, A. G. Cooley. Telognosis; three years of experience with diagnosis by telephone-transmitted roentgenograms. J Am Med Assoc, 148(9):731–732, Mar 1952.
4. ↑ E. V. Dunn, D. W. Conrath, W. G. Bloor, B. Tranquada. An evaluation of four telemedicine systems for primary care. Health Serv Res, 12(1):19–29, 1977.
5. ↑ G. T. Moore, T. R. Willemain, R. Bonanno, W. D. Clark, A. R. Martin, R. P. Mogielnicki. Comparison of television and telephone for remote medical consultation. N Engl J Med, 292(14):729–732, Apr 1975.
6. ↑ M. Fuchs. Provider attitudes toward STARPAHC: a telemedicine project on the Papago reservation. Med Care, 17(1):59–68, Jan 1979.
7. ↑ R. S. Weinstein. Prospects for telepathology. Hum Pathol, 17(5):433–434, May 1986.
8. ↑ W. D. Bidgood, S. C. Horii. Introduction to the acr-nema dicom standard. Radiographics, 12(2):345–355, Mar 1992.
9. ↑ J. Marescaux, J. Leroy, M. Gagner, F. Rubino, D. Mutter, M. Vix, S. E. Butner, M. K. Smith. Transatlantic robot-assisted telesurgery. Nature, 413(6854):379–380, Sep 2001.