February 4, 2005
Phones for health
Residents and doctors at Columbia Missouri University Hospital's division of neurological surgery are using mobile picture phones to transmit images of X-rays, MRIs and computer axial tomography scans of patients to improve the speed and quality of diagnosis, reports Columbian Missourian.
"An informal study conducted by George Galvan, a third-year neurosurgery resident, and Michael Oh, an assistant professor, included more than 50 patients during six months whose examination by interns and residents was supervised by attending physicians through transmitted images.
Galvan's research concluded that diagnoses made from phone images were identical to those made in the hospital room".
How it's done:
"Picture phones are provided to the resident on call, chief resident and attending physicians. When a scan is available to the resident, the image is transmitted in less than two minutes in high definition to a supervisor and, with some discussion, a diagnosis is made. The neurosurgery unit is also negotiating new software for transmission of images from computers to picture phones."
Related stories:
-- Mobile phone cameras lend doctors a hand
-- Doctors should think twice before diagnosing based on a camphone shot
-- Firefighters are testing an emergency photo messaging scheme to help save more lives
-- Doctors use picture phones .
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