title: A low-cost digital filing system for echocardiography data with MPEG4 compression and its application to remote diagnosis.
abstract: The high cost of digital echocardiographs and the large size of data files hinder the adoption of remote diagnosis of digitized echocardiography data. We have developed a low-cost digital filing system for echocardiography data. In this system, data from a conventional analog echocardiograph are captured using a personal computer (PC) equipped with an analog-to-digital converter board. Motion picture data are promptly compressed using a moving pictures expert group (MPEG) 4 codec. The digitized data with preliminary reports obtained in a rural hospital are then sent to cardiologists at distant urban general hospitals via the internet. The cardiologists can evaluate the data using widely available movie-viewing software (Windows Media Player). The diagnostic accuracy of this double-check system was confirmed by comparison with ordinary super-VHS videotapes. We have demonstrated that digitization of echocardiography data from a conventional analog echocardiograph and MPEG 4 compression can be performed using an ordinary PC-based system, and that this system enables highly efficient digital storage and remote diagnosis at low cost.
authors.affiliation: Department of Interdisciplinary Medicine, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan. aumeda@hf.catv.ne.jp
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Umeda
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.forename: Yasumasa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Megumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.forename: Akiyasu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baba
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Minatogawa
authors.forename: Takayasu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chino
authors.forename: Takafumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akaishi
mesh_terms: D000703:Analog-Digital Conversion; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D044962:Data Compression / Q000379:methods*; D004452:Echocardiography; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D016249:Optical Storage Devices; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012984:Software