gms | German Medical Science

Question: The telemonitoring systems used for transmission of essential patient data e.g. electrocardiography signals may be very useful for patient and for the healthcare economy.

Method Used: The telemedical communication was established through the Internet commonly available techniques both in the audio-video mode and by transmission of telemetric data using between individual patients and a leading doctor or an expert centre in order to monitor the patient's health status using inexpensive Internet techniques. The Transfer Control Protocol (TCP IP) was used to create and maintain connections. The network allows a constant access to the Internet with a speed connection stream 512/128 kbps or DSL/ISDN modem with a speed 128/64 kbps.

Results: We have tested three aspects of network MONTE: videoconference connections using simple and cheap web cameras, transmission and advanced on-line analysis of the electrocardiography data from stationary ECG recorders (300 transmissions) and transmission of ECG data via mobile phones (160 transmissions). The time of transmission has changed from 30 to 150 seconds depends on connection type. The digital recording of ECG signals enabled their analysis by numerical methods, in particular allowed the use of a special computer program NURSE-ECG enhancing the signal resolution. This possibility has significantly improved detection of even relatively small changes in the electric activity of particular fragments of the cardiac muscle caused by e.g. ischemia.

Conclusion: The system includes better care for patients discharged from the hospital, improved control of patients staying at home and allows fast, inexpensive and non-invasive monitoring of patients with ischemia.