The Reliability and Diagnostic Concordance of Tele-otology Web Application for Diagnosis of Ear Diseases

Early diagnosis and treatment of preventable ear diseases will reduce the complications of these diseases and possible deafness. This study investigates the reliability and diagnostic compatibility of otolaryngologists in examining video-otoscopic images and patient history data in a remote diagnostic approach versus a face-to-face approach. A total of 180 patients were examined at the ENT clinic by an ENT specialist, and their diagnosis and history were recorded as the gold standard for participants. Then, video-otoscopic images were taken by a facilitator. The images, along with patient history data, were uploaded to the tele-otology web application and evaluated by two otolaryngologists over 2 months. Finally, remote diagnoses were compared with face-to-face diagnoses. This study showed the quality of 77% of video-otoscopic images was acceptable. There was a significant agreement between the video-otoscopic diagnoses compared to the face-to-face diagnoses. This study showed inter- and intra-rater reliabilities were above 70%, and both sensitivity and specificity were constantly above 80%. The results of our first experiment with telecommunication system implementation showed a significant agreement between remote detection and face-to-face detection. Increasing Internet access is expanding tele-ology. The use of this system due to its reliability, non-invasiveness, and portability should be considered by service providers and policy makers.