Imaging file management to support international telepathology

BACKGROUND: Telepathology practice across international borders has become increasingly popular. Our telepathology consultation service with a laboratory in China was hampered by latency issues when viewing whole slide images. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to explore data transfer solutions to improve the viewing experience of digital consult cases. METHODS: Whole slide image files residing on a server in China were transferred to our data center in the USA using an open source product (Fast Data Transfer). A faster more automated commercial high speed file transfer software solution (Aspera) was also tested. RESULTS: Transferring files with the open source product provided transfer speeds of 2–3 Mbps, but suffered from intermittent dropped connections. Employing commercial software permitted more reliable transmission of digital files with 75–100 Mbps transfer speeds. CONCLUSIONS: Successful global telepathology requires dedicated image management. Transfer of files to local servers by employing high speed data transfer tools helped overcome network latency issues, improved the overall turn-around time of digital consultations, and enhanced the viewing experience for end-user digital consultants.