A S Albahri, Z T Al-Qaysi, Laith Alzubaidi, Alhamzah Alnoor, O S Albahri, A H Alamoodi, Anizah Abu Bakar
{"title":"A Systematic Review of Using Deep Learning Technology in the Steady-State Visually Evoked Potential-Based Brain-Computer Interface Applications: Current Trends and Future Trust Methodology.","authors":"A S Albahri, Z T Al-Qaysi, Laith Alzubaidi, Alhamzah Alnoor, O S Albahri, A H Alamoodi, Anizah Abu Bakar","doi":"10.1155/2023/7741735","DOIUrl":"10.1155/2023/7741735","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The significance of deep learning techniques in relation to steady-state visually evoked potential- (SSVEP-) based brain-computer interface (BCI) applications is assessed through a systematic review. Three reliable databases, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and IEEE, were considered to gather relevant scientific and theoretical articles. Initially, 125 papers were found between 2010 and 2021 related to this integrated research field. After the filtering process, only 30 articles were identified and classified into five categories based on their type of deep learning methods. The first category, convolutional neural network (CNN), accounts for 70% (<i>n</i> = 21/30). The second category, recurrent neural network (RNN), accounts for 10% (<i>n</i> = 3/30). The third and fourth categories, deep neural network (DNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM), account for 6% (<i>n</i> = 30). The fifth category, restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM), accounts for 3% (<i>n</i> = 1/30). The literature's findings in terms of the main aspects identified in existing applications of deep learning pattern recognition techniques in SSVEP-based BCI, such as feature extraction, classification, activation functions, validation methods, and achieved classification accuracies, are examined. A comprehensive mapping analysis was also conducted, which identified six categories. Current challenges of ensuring trustworthy deep learning in SSVEP-based BCI applications were discussed, and recommendations were provided to researchers and developers. The study critically reviews the current unsolved issues of SSVEP-based BCI applications in terms of development challenges based on deep learning techniques and selection challenges based on multicriteria decision-making (MCDM). A trust proposal solution is presented with three methodology phases for evaluating and benchmarking SSVEP-based BCI applications using fuzzy decision-making techniques. Valuable insights and recommendations for researchers and developers in the SSVEP-based BCI and deep learning are provided.</p>","PeriodicalId":45630,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10164869/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9452951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marie Keitsch, Alonja Reiter, André Strahl, Karl-Heinz Frosch, Josephine Berger-Groch, Matthias Priemel
{"title":"Apps in Clinical Practice: Usage Behaviour of Trauma Surgeons and Radiologists in Northern Germany.","authors":"Marie Keitsch, Alonja Reiter, André Strahl, Karl-Heinz Frosch, Josephine Berger-Groch, Matthias Priemel","doi":"10.1155/2023/3930820","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/3930820","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Apps, in general, are an integral part of our daily lives. To investigate the current usage behaviour of trauma surgeons and radiologists regarding medical apps in clinical practice and to find out if and how the current range of medical apps can be improved, we surveyed trauma surgeons and radiologists in northern Germany. <i>Material and Methods</i>. An online questionnaire was sent to 100 trauma surgeons and 100 radiologists in northern Germany. Participants were asked about the frequency of their use of medical apps in clinical practice, which apps were used most often, how useful participants thought apps were, and in which area they would like to see improvements. The most frequently mentioned apps were finally analyzed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The survey study showed that 87.4% of the trauma surgeons and 67.4% of the radiologists use medical apps on a regular basis at work. It also revealed that trauma surgeons used medical apps much more often than radiologists and that young doctors were more likely to rely on medical apps than chief physicians. 80.0% of the participants would pay at least 5 euros for a medical app. Trauma surgeons see the greatest need for support in their daily work from medical apps in the area of treatment, while radiologists seek more support in the area of classification.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The study underscored the broad acceptance of medical apps in everyday clinical practice. As the physicians are willing to spend money and stated a general interest and need for further developments, there is high potential for the future. This trial is registered with DRKS00026766.</p>","PeriodicalId":45630,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10412380/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9978688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Personalized Mobile Health for Elderly Home Care: A Systematic Review of Benefits and Challenges.","authors":"Shahrbanoo Pahlevanynejad, Sharareh R Niakan Kalhori, Meysam Rahmani Katigari, Rahil Hosseini Eshpala","doi":"10.1155/2023/5390712","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/5390712","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mobile health as one of the new technologies can be a proper solution to support care provision for the elderly and provide personalized care for them. This study is aimed at reviewing the benefits and challenges of personalized mobile health (PMH) for elderly home care. With a systematic review methodology, 1895 records were retrieved by searching four databases. After removing duplicates, 1703 articles remained. Following full-text examination, 21 articles that met the inclusion criteria were studied in detail, and the output was presented in different tables. The results indicated that 25% of the challenges were related to privacy, cybersecurity, and data ownership (10%), technology (7.5%), and implementation (7.5%). The most frequent benefits were related to cost-saving (17.5%), nurse engagement improvement (10%), and caregiver stress reduction (7.5%). In general, the number of benefits in this study was slightly higher than the challenges, but in order to use PMH technologies, the challenges presented in this study must be carefully considered and a suitable solution must be adopted. Benefits can also be helpful in persuading individuals and health-care providers. This study shed light on those points that need to be highlighted for further work in order to convert the challenges toward benefits.</p>","PeriodicalId":45630,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9871396/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9194758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Simon Onsongo, Charles Kamotho, Tobias F Rinke de Wit, Kinga Lowrie
{"title":"Experiences on the Utility and Barriers of Telemedicine in Healthcare Delivery in Kenya.","authors":"Simon Onsongo, Charles Kamotho, Tobias F Rinke de Wit, Kinga Lowrie","doi":"10.1155/2023/1487245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/1487245","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Telemedicine is the provision of health services over a distance using information communication technology devices. Telemedicine is emerging as a promising component of healthcare care delivery worldwide, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study assessed the factors promoting uptake, barriers, and opportunities for telemedicine among doctors in Kenya. <i>Methodology</i>. A semiquantitative, cross-sectional online survey was conducted among doctors in Kenya. During a month, between February and March 2021, 1,200 doctors were approached by email and WhatsApp, of whom 13% responded. <i>Findings</i>. A total of 157 interviewees participated in the study. The general usage of telemedicine was 50%. Seventy-three percent of doctors reported using a mix of in-person care and telemedicine. Fifty percent reported using telemedicine to support physician-to-physician consultations. Telemedicine had limited utility as a standalone clinical service. The inadequate information communication technology infrastructure was the most reported barrier to telemedicine, followed by a cultural resistance to using technology to deliver healthcare services. Other notable barriers were the high cost of initial setup limited skills among patients, limited skills among doctors, inadequate funding to support telemedicine services, weak legislative/policy framework, and lack of dedicated time for telemedicine services. The COVID-19 pandemic increased the uptake of telemedicine in Kenya.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The most extensive use of telemedicine in Kenya supports physician-to-physician consultations. There is limited single use of telemedicine in providing direct clinical services to patients. However, telemedicine is regularly used in combination with in-person clinical services, allowing for continuity of clinical services beyond the physical hospital infrastructure. With the widespread adoption of digital technologies in Kenya, especially mobile telephone technologies, the growth opportunities for telemedicine services are immense. Numerous mobile applications will improve access capabilities for both service providers and users and bridge the gaps in care.</p>","PeriodicalId":45630,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10171985/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9467681","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Megan Shirey, Alexander Kwok, Holly Jenkins, Sami Uwaydat
{"title":"Findings from a Statewide Teleretina Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Program in Arkansas.","authors":"Megan Shirey, Alexander Kwok, Holly Jenkins, Sami Uwaydat","doi":"10.1155/2023/3233803","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/3233803","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>A significant proportion of diabetic patients in the United States do not present for annual dilated eye exams to monitor for signs of diabetic retinopathy (DR). The purpose of this study was to analyze the results of a statewide, multiclinic teleretina program designed to screen rural Arkansans for this sight-debilitating disease.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Patients with diabetes seen at 10 primary care clinics across Arkansas were offered teleretinal-imaging services. Images were transmitted to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' (UAMS) Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute (JEI) for grading and recommendations for further treatment.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>From February 2019 to May 2022, 668 patients underwent imaging; 645 images were deemed of sufficient quality to generate an interpretation. 541 patients had no evidence of DR, while 104 patients had some evidence of DR. 587 patients had no evidence of maculopathy, while 58 patients had some evidence of maculopathy on imaging. 246 patients had other pathology evident on imaging, with the most common being hypertensive retinopathy, glaucoma suspects, and cataracts. <i>Discussion</i>. In a rural, primary care setting, the JEI teleretina program identifies DR and other nondiabetic ocular pathologies, allowing for an appropriate triage for eye care for patients in a predominantly rural state.</p>","PeriodicalId":45630,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10065851/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9610556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Requirements, Challenges, and Key Components to Improve Onboard Medical Care Using Maritime Telemedicine: Narrative Review.","authors":"Niloofar Mohammadzadeh, Marsa Gholamzadeh","doi":"10.1155/2023/9389286","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/9389286","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Telemedicine has been able to bring healthcare services to all people in far locations such as the sea. Our main objective was to overview the main features, challenges, and requirements of applying telemedicine at sea.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The electronic search includes all types of papers published in English. It was performed in four databases with keywords to Feb 2023. Next, main categories were defined to extract major concepts. By mapping extracted themes, maritime telemedicine concepts were represented in two conceptual models.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>After screening the papers based on title and abstract, 18 articles remained. They can be divided into 13 categories based on their clinical domains. Out of 18 reviewed articles, six articles were published in 2020. The greatest number of studies with five articles was conducted in France. Evidence showed that maritime telemedicine service can be provided to all kinds of ships. Regarding clinical domains, the greatest demand belonged to primary care problems (5 papers) and general health assessment (4 papers). Challenges were divided into four main categories. Moreover, the required services and equipment in four categories were described too. Finally, a conceptual model is represented for providing telemedicine services at sea using satellite Internet.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Despite the existing challenges in providing the required equipment and resources for the implementation of maritime medicine, it has an important role in providing better care for seafarers without time limitations.</p>","PeriodicalId":45630,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10287522/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9714573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sharing and Cooperation of Improved Cross-Entropy Optimization Algorithm in Telemedicine Multimedia Information Processing.","authors":"Hongjiao Wu","doi":"10.1155/2023/7353489","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/7353489","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In order to improve the efficiency of medical multimedia information sharing, this paper combines cloud computing technology and SOA (service-oriented architecture) technology to build a medical multimedia information sharing system. Building a medical information sharing platform requires integrating information resources stored in information systems of medical institutions and nonmedical information systems related to medical information and forming a huge resource pool. It is important to mine and analyze the information resources in the resource pool to realize the sharing and interaction of medical information. To this end, this paper proposes a gain-adaptive control algorithm with online adjustable parameters and investigates the extension of the mutual entropy optimization algorithm in the control domain and its integrated processing capability in the process of medical multimedia information processing. In addition, this paper constructs a medical multimedia information sharing and collaboration platform with medical multimedia information sharing and telemedicine as the core and verifies the effectiveness of the platform through experiments. The simulation results and comparison results with other systems prove that the system in this paper can realize fast data processing, retrieve and analyze massive data, and meet the demand of remote intelligent diagnosis under the premise of safety and stability. Meanwhile, the system in this paper can help hospitals achieve fast and accurate diagnosis, which has strong theoretical and practical values.</p>","PeriodicalId":45630,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10010882/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9129333","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sara N Kiani, Logan D Cho, Jashvant Poeran, Lauren Wilson, Haoyan Zhong, Madhu Mazumdar, Jiabin Liu, Alejandro Gonzalez Della Valle, Stavros G Memtsoudis
{"title":"Musculoskeletal Telemedicine Trends Preceding the COVID-19 Pandemic and Potential Implications of Rapid Telemedicine Expansion.","authors":"Sara N Kiani, Logan D Cho, Jashvant Poeran, Lauren Wilson, Haoyan Zhong, Madhu Mazumdar, Jiabin Liu, Alejandro Gonzalez Della Valle, Stavros G Memtsoudis","doi":"10.1155/2023/9900145","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/9900145","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Telemedicine was rapidly deployed at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Little has been published on telemedicine in musculoskeletal care prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is aimed at characterizing trends in telemedicine for musculoskeletal care preceding the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This retrospective study used insurance claims from the Truven MarketScan database. Musculoskeletal-specific outpatient visits from 2014 to 2018 were identified using the musculoskeletal major diagnostic category ICD-10 codes. Telemedicine visits were categorized using CPT codes and Healthcare Common Procedure Coding Systems. We described annual trends in telemedicine in the overall dataset and by diagnosis grouping. Multivariable logistic regression modeling estimated the association between patient-specific and telemedicine visit variables and telemedicine utilization.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>There were 36,672 musculoskeletal-specific telemedicine visits identified (0.020% of all musculoskeletal visits). Overall, telemedicine utilization increased over the study period (0% in 2014 to 0.05% in 2018). Orthopedic surgeons had fewer telemedicine visits than primary care providers (OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.55-0.59). The proportion of unique patients utilizing telemedicine in 2018 was higher in the south (OR 2.28, 95% CI 2.19-2.38) and west (OR 5.58, 95% CI 5.36-5.81) compared to the northeast. Those with increased comorbidities and lower incomes and living in rural areas had lower rates of telemedicine utilization.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>From 2014 to 2018, there was an increase in telemedicine utilization for musculoskeletal visits, in part due to insurance reimbursement and telemedicine regulation. Despite this increase, the rates of telemedicine utilization are still lowest in some of the groups that could derive the most benefit from these services. Establishing this baseline is important for assessing how the roll-out of telemedicine during the pandemic impacted how/which patients and providers are utilizing telemedicine today.</p>","PeriodicalId":45630,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9848805/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10581268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christophe Jobé, Pierre-Nicolas Carron, Pierre Métrailler, Jean-Marc Bellagamba, Alexandre Briguet, Line Zurcher, Fabrice Dami
{"title":"Introduction of Telemedicine in a Prehospital Emergency Care Setting: A Pilot Study.","authors":"Christophe Jobé, Pierre-Nicolas Carron, Pierre Métrailler, Jean-Marc Bellagamba, Alexandre Briguet, Line Zurcher, Fabrice Dami","doi":"10.1155/2023/1171401","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/1171401","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Advances in information and communication technology have led to telemedicine applications that could support paramedics in the prehospital field. In an effort to optimise the available resources like prehospital emergency physicians (PHP), the State Health Services of a Swiss state decided to launch a pilot study on the feasibility of using telemedicine in the prehospital emergency setting.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>The primary objective was to measure the number of missions completed without technical problems with remote PHP support through telemedicine (tele-PHP). The secondary objectives were to evaluate the safety of this protocol and to describe the actions and decisions that clinicians can make by using tele-PHP.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This was a prospective observational pilot study on all missions involving the dispatch of ground PHP or tele-PHP. The severity score, dispatch criteria, actions, and decisions made by ground PHP and tele-PHP were collected.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>PHP were dispatched simultaneously with an ambulance on 478 occasions, including 68 (14%) situations that started directly with tele-PHP. Among those situations, three had to be transformed into on-site PHP missions after the on-site evaluation by paramedics. Fifteen missions were cancelled by paramedics once they were on site, and six missions encountered a connection issue. Forty-four PHP missions that were dispatched simultaneously with paramedics were completed by tele-PHP only without any connection problems. Paramedics and PHP estimated that actions or decisions were provided by PHP in 66% of the on-site PHP missions and 34% of the tele-PHP missions.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This is the first experience of tele-PHP regarding PHP dispatch in Switzerland. Despite the small number of missions carried out, tele-PHP could be used for well-selected situations to reduce the need for a PHP on site.</p>","PeriodicalId":45630,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10063356/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9595968","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ozra Golsanamloo, Sanaz Iranizadeh, Amir Reza Jamei Khosroshahi, Leila Erfanparast, Ali Vafaei, Yalda Ahmadinia, Solmaz Maleki Dizaj
{"title":"Accuracy of Teledentistry for Diagnosis and Treatment Planning of Pediatric Patients during COVID-19 Pandemic.","authors":"Ozra Golsanamloo, Sanaz Iranizadeh, Amir Reza Jamei Khosroshahi, Leila Erfanparast, Ali Vafaei, Yalda Ahmadinia, Solmaz Maleki Dizaj","doi":"10.1155/2022/4147720","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/4147720","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Teledentistry is a new technology in the dentistry field, which has great benefits during pandemic such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The overall purpose of the study was to assess the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of virtual (mobile phone teledentistry) compared with clinical examinations during COVID-19. The basic design of the study was based on the comparison treatment plans by the students and the gold standard (clinical treatment plan of an expert pedodontist with 10 years of clinical experience). This double-blind clinical trial was conducted on 20 children (aged 6 to 12 years) with a chief complaint of dental caries with or without pain. An appropriate radiograph and five standard intraoral photographs (frontal view occlusion, maxillary occlusal view, mandibular occlusal view, right lateral view, and left lateral view) were prescribed for each patient according to the guidelines of the American Association of Pediatric Dentistry. Then, the treatment plan for the carious teeth was recorded for each patient. Each patient underwent a clinical examination at first and was followed randomly by a virtual examination by two dental students. Then, the clinical and virtual treatment plans were compared with each other, and also with the gold standard. The sensitivity and specificity values were calculated for each group. The accuracy of the diagnosis was measured by applying Cohen's kappa. Interexaminer reliability was measured using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Cronbach's alpha. The mean kappa coefficient for the interexaminer agreement (for 24 teeth) was 0.62 in clinical and 0.69 in virtual examinations. The results showed no significant difference in the treatment plans of students and the gold standard (<i>P</i> > 0.05). The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 73.22% and 95.8% for clinical and 76.44% and 92.9% for virtual treatment plans showing no significant differences between virtual (mobile phone teledentistry) and clinical examinations (<i>P</i> > 0.05). The intraexaminer reliability of the examiners was found to be 0.92 by calculating the ICC. Then, teledentistry can be considered as a supplement to clinical examinations of pediatric dentistry, finally resulting in better patient management. However, more studies are necessary for teledentistry.</p>","PeriodicalId":45630,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2022-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9701115/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40709036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}