Cots technologies for telemedicine applications

Purpose: to demonstrate a simple low cost system for tele-echocardiology, focused on paediatric cardiology applications. Methods: the system was realized using open source software and COTS technologies. It' based on the transmission of two simultaneous video streams, obtained by the direct digitization of the output of an echocardiograph and the by a netcam which shows the examination that is taking place. These stream are then embedded into a web page so they are accessible, together with basic video controls, via a standard web browser. The system can also record the video streams on a server for further use . Results: the system was tested on a small group of neonatal cases with suspect cardiopathies for a preliminary assessment of its features and diagnostic capabilities. Both the clinical and technological results were encouraging and led the way for further experimentations. Conclusions: the presented system can transfer clinical images and videos in an efficient way and in real time. It can be used in the same hospital to support internal consultancy requests, in remote districts using Internet connections and for didactic purposes using low cost COTS appliances and simple interfaces for end users. The solution proposed can be extended to control different medical appliances in the remote hospitals.

@Article{TTSZLMF10a,
  author       = {Triunfo, R. and Tumbarello, R. and Sulis, A. and Zanetti, G. and Lianas, L. and Meloni, V. and Frexia, F.},
  title        = {Cots technologies for telemedicine applications},
  journal      = {International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery},
  number       = {1},
  volume       = {5},
  pages        = {11--18},
  month        = {january},
  year         = {2010},
  note         = {idxproject: TAIC},
  keywords     = {telemedicine, COTS technologies, real time transmission, first and second opinion},
  url          = {http://www.springerlink.com/content/h0m7025332446514/
}