Supporting telemicroscopy and laboratory medicine activities. The Greek "TELE.INFO.MED.LAB" project.

In this paper the authors present the basic results of the study for the "TELE.INFO.MED.LAB" project. This study is based on the local experience of the Metaxas Cancer Institute case and on international references. The possibilities rendered by current developments in telemedicine and particularly in telepathology accelerate and facilitate the communication of crucial medical data and creation of "second level" medical services overcoming the geographical particularities of the country. The availability of data transmission (signals, images, texts, etc.) enables the creation of a "uniform market" for various services. This system must take into account the financial realities, geographical aspects transportation problems and technological developments. Organization of this system, the choices of technical standards and the realization of a complete pilot project are described. For this system we also describe the functional and technical aspects, as well as software and hardware components for the different types of units.