ABSTRACT
By definition, telepathology is the work of a pathologist at a distance [1,2]. According to the opinion of several experts and based on the technical demands, at least five different topics of telepathology should be distinguished [3-7]. These range from the technical and medical point of view: a) on-line (interactive), and b) offline (passive) telepathology, c) telemeasurements, d) quality assurance, and e) education, teaching, and learning. On-line telepathology is equivalent with tele-frozen section services or primary histopathological diagnosis, off-line telepathology with the so-called expert consultation, or secondary histopathological diagnosis. The major differences in the handling and application of on-line and off-line telepathology systems are based upon the communication procedures between the sender (client) and receiver (master, expert). Unfortunately, various names are used for these systems: dynamic, robotic, active, live imaging (on-line), or passive, store and forward, still imaging (off-line). The names are derived from the specific points of view; for example, on-and off-line refer to computer algorithms, dynamic or storeand-forward to image handling. Whereas on-line telepathology systems try to mimic
the complete handling of a microscope to permit the diagnostic work of a pathologist, off-line systems only handle parts of it, namely the interpretation of specific, preselected areas for definite diagnosis.
