Subject(s)
Plateletpheresis , Pregnancy Complications, Hematologic/therapy , Pregnancy, High-Risk/blood , Thrombocythemia, Essential/therapy , Abortion, Spontaneous/prevention & control , Adult , Anticoagulants/administration & dosage , Anticoagulants/therapeutic use , Aspirin/administration & dosage , Aspirin/therapeutic use , Blood Flow Velocity , Cesarean Section , Female , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Ischemic Attack, Transient/etiology , Pain/etiology , Pregnancy , Thrombocythemia, Essential/complicationsABSTRACT
The high cost of digital echocardiographs and the large size of data files hinder the adoption of remote diagnosis of digitized echocardiography data. We have developed a low-cost digital filing system for echocardiography data. In this system, data from a conventional analog echocardiograph are captured using a personal computer (PC) equipped with an analog-to-digital converter board. Motion picture data are promptly compressed using a moving pictures expert group (MPEG) 4 codec. The digitized data with preliminary reports obtained in a rural hospital are then sent to cardiologists at distant urban general hospitals via the internet. The cardiologists can evaluate the data using widely available movie-viewing software (Windows Media Player). The diagnostic accuracy of this double-check system was confirmed by comparison with ordinary super-VHS videotapes. We have demonstrated that digitization of echocardiography data from a conventional analog echocardiograph and MPEG 4 compression can be performed using an ordinary PC-based system, and that this system enables highly efficient digital storage and remote diagnosis at low cost.
