Department of Medical Ultrasound, Shanghai Tenth People' Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Emergency and Critical Care Center, Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital (Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College), Hangzhou, China.
Front Public Health. 2022 Jul 18;10:915071. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.915071. eCollection 2022.
Disability has become a global population health challenge. Due to difficulties in self-care or independent living, patients with disability mainly live in community-based care centers or institutions for long-term care. Nonetheless, these settings often lack basic medical resources, such as ultrasonography. Thus, remote ultrasonic robot technology for clinical applications across wide regions is imperative. To date, few experiences of remote diagnostic systems in rural care centers have been reported.
To assess the feasibility of a fifth-generation cellular technology (5G)-based robot-assisted remote ultrasound system in a care center for disabled patients in rural China.
Patients underwent remote robot-assisted and bedside ultrasound examinations of the liver, gallbladder, spleen, and kidneys. We compared the diagnostic consistency and differences between the two modalities and evaluated the examination duration, image quality, and safety.
Forty-nine patients were included (21 men; mean age: 61.0 ± 19.0 [range: 19-91] years). Thirty-nine and ten had positive and negative results, respectively; 67 lesions were detected. Comparing the methods, 41 and 8 patients had consistent and inconsistent diagnoses, respectively. The McNemar and kappa values were 0.727 and 0.601, respectively. The mean duration of remote and bedside examinations was 12.2 ± 4.5 (range: 5-26) min and 7.5 ± 1.8 (range: 5-13) min ( < 0.001), respectively. The median image score for original images on the patient side and transmitted images on the doctor side was 5 points (interquartile range: [IQR]: 4.7-5.0) and 4.7 points (IQR: 4.5-5.0) ( = 0.176), respectively. No obvious complications from the examination were reported.
A 5G-based robot-assisted remote ultrasound system is feasible and has comparable diagnostic efficiency to traditional bedside ultrasound. This system may provide a unique solution for basic ultrasound diagnostic services in primary healthcare settings.
残疾已成为全球人口健康面临的挑战。由于自理或独立生活困难，残疾患者主要居住在社区护理中心或长期护理机构。然而，这些环境通常缺乏基本的医疗资源，如超声检查。因此，跨广泛区域应用的远程超声机器人技术势在必行。迄今为止，很少有农村护理中心远程诊断系统的经验报道。
评估第五代蜂窝技术（5G）支持的机器人辅助远程超声系统在我国农村残疾患者护理中心的可行性。
患者接受了远程机器人辅助和床边的肝脏、胆囊、脾脏和肾脏超声检查。我们比较了两种模式的诊断一致性和差异，并评估了检查时间、图像质量和安全性。
共纳入 49 例患者（21 例男性；平均年龄：61.0±19.0 岁[范围：19-91 岁]）。39 例和 10 例患者的结果分别为阳性和阴性；共检测到 67 个病灶。比较两种方法，分别有 41 例和 8 例患者的诊断结果一致和不一致。McNemar 和 kappa 值分别为 0.727 和 0.601。远程和床边检查的平均时间分别为 12.2±4.5 分钟（范围：5-26 分钟）和 7.5±1.8 分钟（范围：5-13 分钟）（<0.001）。患者侧原始图像和医生侧传输图像的中位数图像评分分别为 5 分（四分位距[IQR]：4.7-5.0）和 4.7 分（IQR：4.5-5.0）（=0.176）。未报告明显的检查并发症。
基于 5G 的机器人辅助远程超声系统是可行的，与传统床边超声具有相当的诊断效率。该系统可为基层医疗保健环境中的基本超声诊断服务提供独特的解决方案。
