St James's Hospital is a tertiary referral center for percutaneous intervention and cardiothoracic surgery for a number of referring hospitals. This article reports on the development and implementation of a synchronized, interactive teleconferencing system for cardiac images that links St. James's Hospital with a remote site (Sligo General Hospital) and overcomes the problems of transmission of large image files. Teleconferencing was achieved by setting up lossless auto transmission of patient files overnight and conferencing the next morning with linked control signals and databases. As a suitable product was not available, a commercially new software was developed. The system links the imaging databases, monitors and synchronizes progress through imaging sequences, and links a range of image processing and control functions. All parties to the conference are ensured that they are looking at the same images as they are played or at specific aspects of an image that the other party is highlighting. The system allows patient management decisions to be made at a weekly joint teleconference with cardiothoracic surgeons and interventional cardiologists from both sites. Rapid decision making was facilitated with 70% of decisions obtained within 24 h, and 88% within 1 week of their procedure. In urgent cases, data can be transmitted within 20 min of the diagnostic procedure. The system allows increased access to angiography for patients living in rural areas, and provides a more focused referral for revascularization. Participation of the referring cardiologist has improved the quality of decision making.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cabral J, Kim Y: Multimedia systems for telemedicine and their communications requirements, IEEE Commun Mag, 1996
RA Kerensky J Cusma P Kubilis R Simon T Bashore J Hirshfeld D Holmes C Pepine S Nissen (2000) ArticleTitleAmerican College of Cardiology/European Society of Cardiology International study of Angiography Data Compression Phase I J Am Coll Cardiol 35 1370–1379 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0735-1097(99)00610-5 Occurrence Handle1:STN:280:DC%2BD3c3itVOgtQ%3D%3D Occurrence Handle10758987
Nissen S, Hirshfeld J, Simon R: Introduction and background: the international angiographic compression study, J Am Cardiol 35(5), 2000
PJA Robinson (1997) ArticleTitleRadiology's Achilles' heel: error and variation in the interpretation of the Roentgen image Br J Radiol 70 1085–1098 Occurrence Handle1:STN:280:DyaK1c7psl2ltw%3D%3D Occurrence Handle9536897
DM Marsh JF Malone (2002) ArticleTitleMethods and materials for the measurement of subjective and objective measurements of image quality Radiat Prot Dosim 94 IssueID(1–2): 37–42
M Marshall K Faulkner C Kotre K Robson (1992) ArticleTitleAnalysis of variance in contrast detail measurements performed on image intensifier—television systems Phys Med Biol 37 IssueID(12): 2297–2302
CJ Martin PF Sharp DG Sutton (1999) ArticleTitleMeasurements of image quality in diagnostic radiology Appl Radiat Isotopes 50 21–38 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DyaK1MXnsVSgsQ%3D%3D
A Schreiner-Karoussou (2002) ArticleTitleThe Quality Assurance and constancy checking of fluoroscopy and flurography systems Radiat Prot Dosim 94 IssueID(1–2): 49–52
B Brennecke U Burgel R Simon G Rippen HP Fritsch T Becker S Nissen (2000) ArticleTitleAmerican College of Cardiology/European Society of Cardiology International study of Angiography Data Compression Phase III J Am Coll Cardiol 35 1388–1397 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0735-1097(99)00655-5 Occurrence Handle1:STN:280:DC%2BD3c3itVOguw%3D%3D Occurrence Handle10758989
WB Pennebecker JL Mitchell (1993) JPEG Still Image Compression Standard Van Nostrand-Reinhold New York 78
JN Stahl J Zhang C Zellner EV Pomerantsev T Chou HK Huang (2000) ArticleTitleA new approach to teleconferencing with intravascular US and cardio angiography in a low bandwidth environment Radiographics 20 1494–1503
A Chatterjee A Maltz (1997) ArticleTitleMicrosoft Direct Show: A new media architecture J Soc Motion Pict Telev Eng 106 865–871
Dowling A, Kennedy J, O'Hare N, Mulvihille N, Malone JF: Clinical Evaluation of a Multimodality Cardiac Case Conferencing System. Oral Presentation and Publication in the proceedings of SPIE's International Symposium on Medical Imaging, San Diego, California, February, 1999
N O'Hare F Wallis J Kennedy E Hickey G Dermot ParticleMc A Dowling J Murphy JF Malone (1996) ArticleTitleSpecification and initial evaluation of a multiple application teleradiology system Br J Radiol 69 735–742 Occurrence Handle8949676
IPEM Report No. 32, Part II, Measurement of the Performance Characteristics of Diagnostic X-ray Systems Used in Medicine, 2nd edn, 1996
IPEM 77, Recommended Standards for Routine Testing of Diagnostic X-ray Imaging Systems 1996
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Walsh, C., Cosgrave, J., Crean, P. et al. Synchronized, Interactive Teleconferencing with Digital Cardiac Images. J Digit Imaging 19, 85–91 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10278-005-8147-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10278-005-8147-0