Tele ultrasound
MELODY, the remote ultrasound robot.
The remote ultrasound MELODY system enables to find a solution to growing medical desertification issues by providing an ultrasound examination without an expert on the patient site.
In the most common use of this system, when there is no expert with the patient, this patient will be able to benefit from a medical expertise and remote interpretation. The doctor who is performing the remote examination is then assisted by a medical expert who is next to the patient.
Tele ultrasound enables to perform an ultrasound on a patient in good technical conditions and with medical liability even though the expert is not attending the examination site, which was not possible until now.
It is the expert who real-time manipulates the ultrasound probe on the patient thanks to the robotic arm.
Both the expert site and the patient site are connected by a secure internet connection via the telemedicine platform to ensure a real-time exchange of information such as monitoring and remote setting, without video data storage (an unusable storage since the interpretation of an ultrasound image has to be performed at time “t” on the body in motion).
The Adechotech MELODY solution is the first tele-ultrasound robot which meets all accreditations to be marketed (CE marking, clinical surveys…). In 2013, it received three innovation rewards (at the Hopital-Expo in Paris, the eHealth University in Castres and at the Innovation conference in the Centre Region).
From a technical perspective, MELODY is a robotic arm at the end of which the patient site operator fixes an ultrasound probe. The imaging expert doctor will assign remote specific tasks to the robotic arm thanks to a control interface just like a real ultrasound probe.
Tele ultrasound specialties
Specialties related to visceral and digestive pathologies
- Abdominal/Pelvic surgery
- Digestive
- Gastroenterology (whose diagnoses can be particularly facilitated by tele ultrasound)
Cardiology
Heart disease is today very common and requires regular monitoring to prevent or screen complications before or at the onset. Heart ultrasound enables to detect heart complications related to high blood pressure, interpretation of heart murmurs, heart failure screening and research on a disease associated with heart-rhythm disorder.
Examples of patient care
- Hypertension
- Heart-rhythm disorder
- Heart failure
Urology
Urologic diseases and disorders are also very frequent and can benefit from this type of device. Combining remote consultations with a tele-ultrasound examination [a]is an efficient way to determine which patients have to benefit from examinations and more complex treatments.
Upper and lower urinary tract diseases
- Renal dilation
- Vesical lithiasis
- Kidney tumour
- Urinary retention
- Bladder tumours (superficial or invasive Polyp)
Main diseases detected or submitted to an ultrasound check-up
- Urinary disorders in men especially from a prostatic cause + chronic urinary retention
- Incontinence in older men and women to eliminate incontinence due to overflow incontinence
- Urinary tract tumours in front of a hematuria
- Lithiasic pathology in front of a pain (renal colic), a urinary tract infection, a hematuria (blood in urine)
Geriatrics in everyday life
Both the use of ultrasound and traditional radiology is often necessary to eliminate serious diseases when ordinary and hardly specific signs appear.