Rural and Remote Health

rrh.org.au
James Cook University ISSN 1445-6354

Short Communication

Telepathology in intraoperative frozen section consultation of breast cancer sentinel node biopsy in Fukushima, Japan following the 2011 triple disaster: diagnostic accuracy and required time during the early implementation phase

AUTHORS

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Hiroaki Kawakami1

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Akihiko Ozaki2

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Yudai Kaneda3 *

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Shigeyuki Asano4

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Kouki Inai5

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Shinichi Hirooka6

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Ayumi Katoono7

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Riko Takagi8

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Makoto Kosaka9

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Anju Murayama10

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Toyoaki Sawano11 Medical Doctor

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Yasuteru Shimamura12

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Masaharu Tsubokura13

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Tomohiro Kurokawa14

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Kaznoshin Tachibana15

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Masahiro Wada16

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Tetsuya Tanimoto17 Attendant Physician, Department of Internal Medicine

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Tohru Ohtake18

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Naoyuki Kitamura19

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Tomozo Ejiri20

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Hideyuki Magome21

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Hiroaki Shimmura22

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Norio Kanzaki23

AFFILIATIONS

1, 7, 8 Department of Pathology, Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation, Iwaki City, Fukushima, Japan

2 Department of Breast Surgery, Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation, Iwaki City, Fukushima, Japan; Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima City, Fukushima, Japan; and MNES Inc., Hiroshima City, Hiroshima, Japan

3 School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo City, Hokkaido, Japan

4 Department of Pathology, Iwaki Medical Center, Iwaki City, Fukushima, Japan

5, 12, 19 MNES Inc., Hiroshima City, Hiroshima, Japan

6 Department of Pathology, Jikei University School of Medicine, Minato City, Tokyo, Japan

9 School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo City, Tokyo, Japan

10 School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai City, Miyagi, Japan

11 Department of Surgery, Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation, Iwaki City, Fukushima, Japan; and Department of Radiation Health Management, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima City, Fukushima, Japan

13 Department of Radiation Health Management, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima City, Fukushima, Japan

14, 20, 23 Department of Surgery, Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation, Iwaki City, Fukushima, Japan

15, 18 Department of Breast Surgery, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima City, Fukushima, Japan

16 Department of Breast Surgery, Sano Kosei General Hospital, Sano City, Tochigi, Japan

17 MNES Inc., Hiroshima City, Hiroshima, Japan; and Department of Internal Medicine, Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation, Iwaki City, Fukushima, Japan

21 Department of Clinical Examination, Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation, Iwaki, Fukushima, Japan

22 Department of Urology, Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation, Iwaki, Fukushima, Japan

ACCEPTED: 20 July 2023


early abstract:

In breast cancer surgery, some medical facilities lack the necessary resources to conduct sentinel lymph node biopsy and its intraoperative frozen section consultation. In the coastal rural area of Fukushima, Japan, which has suffered from physician undersupply following the 2011 triple disaster, we explored the feasibility of telepathology by evaluating the diagnostic accuracy in remote intraoperative frozen section consultation of sentinel lymph node biopsy and its required time. Although examination time has room for improvement, telepathology can be one possible solution in resource-limited areas.