Continuing medical education: Web-based training in stereotactic biopsy diagnosis of intracerebral lesions

Abstract

The Internet respectively the world wide web (WWW) has become an essential resource in the search for current information and references in the practice of medicine. Up-to-date information without any printing- and distribution-costs are other striking features. Furthermore, the WWW provides a new learning environment in addition to traditional resources as books and journals. An online tutorial for the diagnosis of stereotactic biopsy specimens is described. This tutorial provides a set of 12 cases, including a short history, radiological descriptions and imaging scans of the intracerebral lesions, as well as cytological pictures of the stereotactic specimens. The pictures can be zoomed with a mouse click to 736 x 560 pixel images. The next page shows the histology of the lesion, in some cases with additional specimens from a later performed open resection and with immunohistochemical findings. Furthermore the final diagnosis is provided with discussion of the differential diagnoses. A navigation menu includes an index and lets the user jump directly to certain cases or other parts of the tutorial, with the latter including a description of the smear preparation technique and data concerning the diagnostic accuracy of stereotactic biopsies. A valuable list of the pertinent literature is also available. The tutorial can be visited and used at no charge and will be regularly updated. It can be found at the internet address http://www.med-rz.uni-saarland.de/med_fak/neuropatho/sbdil/. The use of the WWW informational resources allows to acquire, as well as to provide, access to medically related remote database structures and to obtain continuing medical education in a fast and easy way.