The educational program and remote expert guidance concepts developed for Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity (ADUM) on the ISS was modified for terrestrial use. There are a great number of medically under-served regions on the Earth.Credits: Scott A. Dulchavsky, M.D., Ph.D.A patient’s location at the time of a medical crisis often determines their pain and suffering and even their chances of survival. As a rule, ease of access to medical care decreases as the distance from a developed metropolitan area increases. Providing medical care for people in remote communities; at research outposts, such as Antarctic stations; and on isolated crews, such as the International Space Station crew, is particularly challenging.
Medical care at these remote locations is usually performed by minimally trained medical personnel, and a physician is sometimes available only through phone or Internet links, if at all. The ability to quickly diagnose an illness or injury and initiate treatment improves the outcome for the patient and reduces the consequences for the rest of the mission. The ability to make an accurate diagnosis in remote areas reduces the impact of the incident and the chances of an expensive and potentially dangerous and unnecessary evacuation.
Future Plans
As with other computer technology, ultrasound machines will most likely get faster and have more memory for storing data. Transducer probes may get smaller, and more insertable probes will be developed to get better images of internal organs. Most likely, 3-D ultrasound will be more highly developed and become more popular.
The entire ultrasound machine will probably get smaller, perhaps even hand-held for use in the field (e.g. paramedics, battlefield triage). One exciting new area of research is the development of ultrasound imaging combined with heads -up /virtual reality displays or goggles that will allow a doctor to “see” inside you as he/she is performing a minimally invasive or non-invasive procedure such as amniocentesis or biopsy.That will increase the accuracy of the diagnosis.
wireless transducers are already in the market ;The ACUSON Freestyle ultrasound system enhances clinical and operational efficiencies at the point of care. Through advanced, wireless transducer technologies, this innovative system empowers you to tailor your workflow around you.
Astronauts are going to work on some of the solar panels, and they have to put on their special spacesuit to go outside of the vehicle. They have to lower the pressure in that spacesuit, and that puts some stresses on the lungs. That might cause a collapsed lung.
That’s Scott Dulchavsky, chairman of surgery at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and an investigator with the National Space Biomedical Research Institute. He developed a technique to train crews to do medical quality ultrasounds aboard the International Space Station to diagnose injuries quickly. Dulchavsky said a chest X-ray diagnosis of a collapsed lung typically takes about 10 minutes.
They’ve now come up with a way to make that diagnosis in about 10 seconds, actually more accurately than that chest X-ray.
Astronauts send the ultrasound image to Earth via satellite. Two seconds later, it shows up on a screen, where experts can see it and guide the astronaut through the procedure. Dulchavsky said a next step is to use them to bring medical care to far-flung earthly locations.
For example, Sambiani, Madagascar, sub-Saharan Africa, where we could have a device, we could have it connected much as we do on the space station, to a remote expert.
X-rays, CAT scans and MRIs are too big, bulky and heavy to be of practical use on the space station. Comparatively, the ultrasound machine on the space station is light and compact. It weighs about 70 pounds and is the size of two suitcases. That’s important on spaceships, because every ounce of payload costs money to launch. The first ultrasound experiments in space were performed in 2003, and ultrasound was used on the International Space Station in 2008.
Ultrasound machines use high-frequency sound waves to make a picture of the inside of the body. They are commonly used to take pictures of babies in utero, but can also help diagnose conditions such as collapsed lungs, broken bones and kidney stones.
Scott Dulchavsky: We worry about five or six hundred potential medical conditions that might occur during a space mission, and we estimate that ultrasound could be used to provide pretty important information on about two-thirds of those.
For the space program, Dulchavsky cut the normal 200-hour ultrasound training time by 99 percent.Scott Dulchavsky: I get two hours with the crew before they go in space, and then we developed a computer-based program that refreshes their knowledge, that’s about 30 minutes in duration, just before they do the examinations.
Steve Ramsey, PhD -Public Health.
MSc -Medical Ultrasound, BSc- Diagnostic Imaging.
Canada