U.S. Army doctors have tested the feasibility of using echocardiography with portable satellite equipment in a remote location to transmit live images back to hospital-based cardiologists. Researchers gave the technology high marks for its ability to accurately diagnose and prioritize treatment of patients for major cardiac abnormalities in real-time from the field.

Army doctors said that in mass causality situations about 25 to 20 percent of all traumatic deaths are related to chest injury. "There are not enough cardiologists at the scene," said Dr. Sheri Boyd, one of the researchers. "Remote use of echocardiography is kind of a medical force multiplier. If we can move this technology up to the front line to aid in early diagnosis, it will help our troops in combat — and also civilians in a mass casualty scenario."

Researchers at Fort Sam Houston’s Brooke Arm Medical Center, in San Antonio, Texas, simulated a crisis in a remote location. Sonographers used handheld ultrasound units to transmit live images of the heart and vessels of each cardiac patient to the hospital via a portable satellite dish set up on site. Cardiologists stationed at the hospital remotely examined the images and provided diagnoses via satellite and two-way communication.

"We were broadcasting images to the hospital from 40 miles away, but given the same technology it could have been as far as 400 or 4,000 miles," Dr. Boyd said. "This technology could have immediate application for our troops abroad and for humanitarian missions."