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Trial Lecture – time and place
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Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Professor Frank Casey, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Second opponent: Professor Håvard Dalen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Professor II Kristin Bjørnland, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Professor II Bjørn Bendz, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Chief Physician Henrik Brun, Oslo University Hospital
Summary
In cardiology and paediatric cardiology patients presenting with acutely compromised circulatory system often need prompt echocardiographic evaluation. In inexperienced hands, echocardiography can miss important treatable diagnoses.
This thesis sought to evaluate different methods for remote echocardiographic examination, through remote-guided and teleoperated robotic echocardiography. Image quality, cardiac structure assessability, measurement precision of left ventricular dimensions, valvular doppler flow velocities, examination time and ability to identify critical congenital heart defects in need of transfer for specialized care was compared to standard clinical examination.
The first and second papers evaluated the feasibility of medical students receiving remote guidance to perform echocardiography and robotic teleoperated echocardiography on healthy volunteers.
In the third study, we wanted to solve a clinical task and evaluate the ability of remote-guided physicians without experience in imaging CHD, to identify newborns with CCHD in need of transfer for specialised care.
Remote guidance of medical students to perform a screening-like echocardiographic evaluation of left-heart structures did not result in an examination of clinical applicability.
The teleoperated robot examination was able to produce images of medium-rated quality or better, and cardiac structures were imaged feasibly for assessment in most cases. Selected measurements of cardiac dimensions showed acceptable accuracy and precision.
In the third paper, the physicians without experience in imaging of CHD were enabled to correctly identify newborns with CCHD through remote-guided echocardiography. No cases of CCHD were missed by remote guidance.
Overall, the different methods for remote cardiac ultrasound examinations show promise for future use, although more research is needed to prove clinical applicability.
Additional information
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