Telemedicine as virtual hospital: fiber optics roadways for medical care.

Fiber optics--pulses of brilliant light flashing through glass highways--are transforming the medical world by merging diagnostic radiology and communication technologies. We are moving into a technological age when nearly instantaneous transmission of large blocks of information will soon make live, long distance medical consultations commonplace. One of the best applications for that speed and capacity of information transfer is radiographic data, including images, exams, data and teleconsulting.