Telemedicine in maxillofacial trauma: a 2-year clinical experience.
OBJECTIVE
The authors report the 2-year experience of use of the PATATRAC telemedicine system in managing maxillofacial trauma.


METHODS
Thirty-five regional hospitals on-line with PATATRAC in the period from January 2002-January 2004 have sent 18 consultations (11 men and 7 women) to the Maxillofacial Surgery Division of San Giovanni Battista Hospital in Turin for telemedicine evaluation of patients with maxillofacial trauma.


RESULTS
Only 50% of the consultations (9 patients) sent via PATATRAC indicated maxillofacial treatment, and only one case resulted in immediate transfer. Of the remaining 8 transfers, 2 patients were transferred after treatment of associated lesions in the receiving hospital, and the other 6 patients were transferred as scheduled based on the availability of beds in the specialist center.


CONCLUSIONS
The results obtained, despite the poor number of telemedicine maxillofacial consultations, have mainly proved the usefulness of PATATRAC in drastically reducing expensive and unnecessary transfers of maxillofacial patients, without indications for either immediate or deferred treatment, thus also avoiding discomfort to the patient with other injuries.
Roccia
Fabio
F
Division of Maxillofacial Surgery, S. Giovanni Battista Hospital, Turin, Italy. Fabio.Roccia@poste.it
Spada
Maria Cristina
MC
Milani
Bruno
B
Berrone
Sid
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003199:Computer Systems; D003422:Critical Care; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008446:Maxillofacial Injuries / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009862:Online Systems; D010360:Patient Transfer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011873:Radiology Information Systems; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data