Telemedicine for the Battlefield: Present and Future Technologies

Providing medical care in the field is very challenging because of the limited availability of medical resources. The current practice in military operations is to stabilize patients far forward and evacuate them to better equipped medical facilities, such as combat field hospitals. This strategy has proven very successful in recent conflicts. However, it is possible to save more lives and ameliorate the consequences of long term injuries by providing an accurate diagnosis earlier, specialized surgical care faster and more sophisticated intensive care during transport. This chapter focuses on technologies that allow augmenting the diagnostics and treatment capabilities of medical teams in the field.