A study released by the Mayo Clinic confirms the positive benefits of using smartphones to evaluate medical images in remote locations through telemedicine. The MAyo Clinic study is the first to test the effectiveness of smartphone teleradiology applications in a real-world telestroke network. [1]
“Essentially what this means is that telemedicine can fit in our pockets,” says Bart Demaerschalk, M.D., professor of Neurology, and medical director of Mayo Clinic Telestroke. “For patients this means access to expertise in a timely fashion when they need it most, no matter what emergency room they may find themselves.”
The study compared the quality of medical images using a particular smartphone application to the same images viewed on a desktop computers. The scans were reviewed by radiologists in Yuma and a separate group of neurologists to determine the level of agreement between the traditional interpretation routes and the new images and scans on smartphones. The study shows that 92 to 100 percent of reviewers were in agreement.
“Smartphones are ubiquitous, they are everywhere,” Dr. Demaerschalk says. “If we can transmit health information securely and simultaneously use the video conferencing capabilities for clinical assessments, we can have telemedicine anywhere, which is essential in a state like Arizona where more than 40 percent of the population doesn’t have access to immediate neurologic care.”
The study was funded by the Arizona Department of Health Services and the technology and technical assistance was provided by Calgary Scientific, the maker of ResolutionMD.
[1] “Smartphone technology acceptable for telemedicine.” Science Codex. Web. 01 October 2012.
