Knowledge of disease processes and their effects are essential for all medical practitioners. The Images of Disease (IOD) app is a unique educational development by staff of the Department of Pathology and Museum of Human Disease in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of New South Wales in Australia. The IOD app is intended to promote learning about disease processes and their effects on human tissues and organs. It provides access to images of a broad range of human diseases, including interactive images of diseased tissue to enhance understanding of the appearances of disease. The IOD app is suitable for students of medicine and medical sciences, as well as medical practitioners, specialist trainees in radiology and pathology, and indeed anyone interested in how disease affects us.

The Images of Disease collection consists of a database of thousands of images and associated clinical histories and descriptions, predominantly relating to diseased tissue held in the Museum of Human Disease at the University of New South Wales. Hundreds of diseases are covered, ranging from Abdominal aortic aneurysm to Volvulus of the small bowel. A number of interactive ‘hotspotted’ images are available to enable in-depth exploration of the features of common diseases such as Myocardial infarction (‘heart attack’) and Colorectal carcinoma (‘bowel cancer).

Images include macroscopic (gross pathology) and microscopic (histopathology) views of diseased tissue, sometimes with associated diagnostic imaging investigations, clinical and autopsy images. Images can be searched by disease name, organ system or pathological process. Virtual audio tours of museum specimens are also available. The free IOD Lite app contains a small selection of those images, while the IOD app contains the complete image collection.

The IOD app is compatible with any model of iPhone OR iPad running OS5 or later.

When viewing specimens, you can use two fingers on the screen to zoom in and out. You can also swipe up or down on the text field to change its size. You can also tap the ruler icon to measure the actual size of the specimen or features within the specimen by using two fingers to specify the points to measure between. When a specimen name is highlighted in red, this indicates that there are “hotspots” on the specimen which will display a text description and red outline after tapping on areas of interest.

Reviews:

"The IOD app is a very well-organised application that allows users to access different pathology specimens thanks to its classification into disease processes, organ system and "bays". It is very user friendly with icons to help navigate the app. Finally, it is high detailed and thorough. Each specimen has a succinct clinical, gross and microscopic description of the disease; attention paid to clinico-pathological correlations is second to none. This app will be very useful for medical students." (Final year medical student, UNSW)

“The Images of Disease app is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in learning more about pathology (or preparing for exams!). The app has comprehensively catalogued (by disease, organ and process) an extensive collection of pathological specimens complete with clinical cases and images with macroscopic and microscopic descriptions. The app is also exceptionally user-friendly and easy to navigate. Coming complete with virtual tours (including audio tours), the app is not only a great standalone resource accessible from anywhere but an invaluable companion to a visit to the UNSW Pathology Museum!” (Final year medical student, UNSW)