Remote digital echocardiography for the identification of cardiac valvular disease

The Pacific Island Health Care Project cares for 250-500 patients from the US-associated Pacific Islands. Unique to the Pacific Basin is a high incidence of acute rheumatic fever, a condition that not uncommonly results in valvular heart disease. Identification of patients with severe valvular heart disease may qualify them for care in the military medical system under this project. Echocardiography has become an essential diagnostic tool for the cardiologist in identifying heart valve problems. Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) has established a digital echocardiography network to serve the Great Plains Region. Currently, echocardiograms are digitized at remote sites, transferred to BAMC for evaluation and stored in DICOM standard format on optical disk. The digital network system provides improved care for patients, reduces patient transport costs, permits local follow-up and reduces health care costs. New digital technologies currently under evaluation at our institution will provide smaller, less costly, portable digital imaging systems and make digital echocardiography imaging networks feasible for remote health care facilities. Combining this technology with the new era of digital imaging will allow portable echoes to be used as an extension of the stethoscope. Evaluating heart function and valvular disease in a local health facility will decrease the need for transportation of the patient to a larger facility for diagnosis or follow-up evaluation.