News

Ship-to-shore ultrasound telemedicine trial success

02-10-2008 - BGAN and FleetBroadband aided a ground-breaking telemedicine trial in the Mediterranean organised by our distribution partner Vizada and its service provider (SP) Satlink Maritime Services.

Vizada and the SP supported the project to diagnose and treat patients in isolated areas using ultrasound scans that could be carried out locally and then viewed hundreds of miles away by ultrasound experts.

During the trial, a doctor onboard a cruise ship situated south of Cyprus carried out scans on a volunteer. The images were then examined by experts located in Cyprus and France.

Remote diagnosis
Following the onboard examination, the ultrasound images were sent using TCP/IP and UDP protocols using an average bandwidth of around 300 kbps.

A multi-way videoconference via Inmarsat then allowed the experts on land, the vessel's doctor and the patient to discuss the medical diagnosis.

As part of a simulated emergency situation, the relevant medical information was then provided to the captain of the vessel for him to decide what the best course of action would be in a real-life situation.

High quality
The connection between land and sea was made possible using BGAN Thrane & Thrane Explorer 700 equipment on land at Nicosia Hospital in Cyprus provided by Satlink and Vizada, and a Thrane & Thrane FleetBroadband 500 on the cruise ship provided by Satlink.

Vizada area manager for Greece and Cyprus Jörg Völker said: "The project is an important step toward enabling patients to receive high-quality health care from any place and at any time from a medical specialist.

"It means that patients in remote locations - and particularly crew members at sea - can feel much more secure in case of medical emergency."

www.vizada.com

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