l
EU-TeleInViVo - 3D Ultrasound Telemedical Workstation


EU-TeleInViVo
European Commission
Telematics Technologies Programme
Project #HC4021

Description - Partners - Image & Video Gallery
Conferences-Exhibitions - Contact - Links - Articles - IST Prize
 

Description :

The aim of this project was to setup a transportable telemedicine workstation to be used in isolated areas such as islands, rural areas and crisis situation areas. It integrates in one custommade device:
  • a portable PC with telecommunication capabilities and
  • a light, portable 3D ultrasound station.
 

The TeleInViVo device		 The system developed has low price, low weight, is transportable and non radiating. l

The integrated workstation uses advanced software techniques able to collect 3-dimensional ultrasound data of a patient. Ultrasound supports a very large range of applications varying from gynaecology and abdominal scans to cardiological examinations and is currently the only economically and practically affordable imaging modality.

 

The doctor in the field scans the patient and transmits the acquired 3D dataset via:
  • Internet,
  • ISDN,
  • phone line
  • GSM

to the distant expert. Such data transmission can be online, i.e. while both doctors are connected, or offline, e.g. overnight, even through narrowband channels. In the latter case waiting times are minimised, whereas in the first case additional scans can be requested by the remote expert during the teleconsultation for finetuning the diagnosis.

The innovative idea of the system lies on the fact after the transfer of the 3D ultrasound data and during the on-line cooperation, only control signals (e.g. position of mouse, activation of buttons etc.) are transmitted over the network.

 

InViVo ScanNT interface		   Only the actions introduced by one user are transferred to the remote location, where the second workstation locally calculates the corresponding image. Therefore, no bulky image data have to be transferred over the network, only a few bytes of control signals. Nevertheless the 2 doctors see exactly the same image on their screens. The delay between two locations depends only on the latency of the intermediate network, which can be as low as that of a usual telephone line or even a GSM mobile phone.


The device is now ready to be tested in different socioeconomic conditions and adjusted accordingly to meet needs of developing countries and countries in transition. It currently comes in two versions, one fully portable, selfcontaining device, and a workstation version (PC attached to an ultrasound scanner for internal hospital use).

A fixed station for expert diagnosis support will be situated at the Coimbra University Hospital in Portugal. The field test sites include Azores and Canary Islands; UNESCO will evaluate EU-TeleInViVo in Uganda and Kazakhstan, at two different sites for each country.

At the end of the project a medical teleconference emergency workstation will be available, to be used in Europe, as well as in other regions of the world allowing to provide health care service where it is not possible by the usual means such as ecological disaster areas, remote rural areas, isolated islands, etc.

Detailed project description
Flyer (PDF, 975KB)

 

Consortium partners :

IGD - Fraunhofer Institut für Graphische Datenverarbeitung
DSC - Langen, Germany
PIE Medical - Maastricht, Netherlands
CCG - Coimbra, Portugal
ZGDV - Darmstadt, Germany
CATAI - Tenerife, Spain
UNESCO - Paris, France
HUC - Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
HPD - Hospital de Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal

 

Clinical partners :

University Hospital - La Laguna, Spain
UNESCO ITU Telecentre and Nakaseke Hospital - Nakaseke, Uganda
Mulago Hospital - Kampala, Uganda
Central Regional Hospital - Aralsk, Kazakhstan
Almaty Diagnostic Centre - Almaty, Kazakhstan



EU-TeleInViVo World Map
 

Aditional Images & Video Gallery :
 

Conferences-Exhibitions :
 

Publications :
 

Contact :

Contact Adresses
 

EU-TeleInViVo Links :

 

Relevant Links :

 
 

Articles :
 
 

IST-Prize
Bunderepublik Deutschland - Urkunde
Medical Technology and Application (PDF, 2.79 MB)
Awards
Top Top Home Home   © 2004 Fraunhofer IGD - last modified: 29.10.2004