Multi-site interventional real-time procedure demonstrations with the use of integrated services digital network connections.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness and cost of commercially available video conferencing units and standard Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) connections for real-time multi-site transmissions of interventional procedures. METHODS: A network of five separate interventional radiology departments-three in the Czech Republic and one each in Austria and the USA-was established using Polyspan (Polycom in the USA) View Stations and ISDN connections. This network was used for transmissions of 16 live interventional procedures to the Sixth International Workshop on Interventional Radiology in Prague, Czech Republic in June 2000. RESULTS: The transmissions were successful and of sufficient quality to contribute to the educational success of the workshop. The cost of the ISDN transmissions was a fraction of satellite transmission costs. CONCLUSION: Multi-site real-time interventional procedure transmissions using video conferencing Polyspan (Polycom) View Stations and ISDN connections are a promising means of improving interventional tele-education and decreasing its cost.

Research at the Department of Medical Informatics, Statistics and Documentation of the University of Graz.

The Department of Medical Informatics, Statistics and Documentation of the University of Graz has a double responsibility: research in medical informatics, and implementation and operation of information systems in the hospital. Research is therefore application oriented with emphasis on departmental information systems, image management, and information integration. Other topics include analysis of the preconditions for the acceptance and successful use of information systems in medicine, and the ethics and professional responsibility of medical informatics.