Medica2015_Mittwoch

is the Advanced Solution for Advanced Pathology. A unique and complete system combining a next generation instrument with a world class range of IHC antibodies and FISH and CISH probes. W W W . I M P A T H . N E T W W W . M E N A R I N I D I A G N O S T I C S . C O M HALLE 2 - A27 DISTRIBUTOR WANTED EH @ MEDICA No 3 2015 9FRIDAY @ MEDICA g arm of ultrasoundfile to the expert over the internet. Because an ultrasound exam is only as good as the operator perform- ing the exam, the Melody robot method allows the experts to directly apply their experience, as well as their professional responsibility for the diagnoses. This critical difference between the two approaches to teleradiology won a frontline presentation for the robot’s creator, AdEchoTech at this year’s French Radiology Congress in Paris. Robots are usually viewed by the French as job-stealing contrap- tions and are fiercely resisted. Yet here radiologists were lining up to hear how this robotic system can extend their practices by performing remote ultrasound exams in under- served rural regions, or else in pris- ons, on oil platforms, or aboard cruise ships in the Mediterranean carrying 5,000 passengers. They also learned that the robot does not replace the ultrasound technician at the remote exam site. Au contraire, French radiologists were shown how the role of the technician is elevated and could well be expanded in remote medical cen- tres thanks to the robot. Michel Claudon MD, a radiologist from the University Hospital in Nancy, France, presented colleagues with a review of published papers validating the remote examination approach in ultrasound. In an extreme example, Claudon cited a demonstration documented in a 2011 article in the Journal of Emergencies, Trauma, and Shock where a just-in-time, pleural and lung ultrasound exam was displayed in real-time for an expert evaluation on a smartphone, using a portable ultrasound probe interfaced with a laptop computer, with video-stream- ing over Skype. The key distinguishing features of the approach enabled by Melody, he said, is that the examination is synchronous, performed in real-time, as opposed to asynchronous with the record and upload method. The Melody system is based on a robotic arm controlled by the ultra- sound technician. Using the Melody Patient system, the technician at the patient’s side at a remote centre places a frame with the ultrasound transducer over the area of interest and applies gel to the targeted zone. The robotic control arm can accept any ultrasound probe and plug into any ultrasound platform for the exam, according to Nicolas Lefebvre, general manager for AdEchoTech. Connected by high-speed land line, or satellite transmission, the Melody Expert system at a remote medical centre controls the move- ment of the probe at the patient site, and it is ‘marvellously sensi- tive and responsive,’ according to Claudon. Besides moving the probe side to side, the expert can also press the probe down for better sig- nal penetration. The remote expert, who is simultaneously connected by video conferencing with the operator at the secondary centre, views the ultrasound exam in real-time. Newly developed touch screen software, which can be loaded to any standard computer, according to Lefebvre, allows the ultrasound expert to adjust probe depth, the gain, switch on the Doppler function and otherwise operate the ultra- sound platform at the patient’s side. One megabyte per second for both uploading and downloading is sufficient capacity for transmission of the exam and video conferencing. By the end of the presentation session in Paris, no one was asking if the robot could play a role, but how it could be applied. In addition, in a positive sign for the company, the discussion broke up with radiologists kicking around their favourite topic of reimbursement. Source(2):AdEchoTech EH @ MEDICA No 32015

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