Clinical evaluation of a multimodality cardiac case conferencing system

Cardiac patients may undergo a range of diagnostic examinations including angiography, echocardiography, nuclear medicine, x-ray, ECG and blood pressure measurement. Cine angiograms are reviewed at cardiac case conferences. Other data types are not typically exhibited due to the incompatibility of display devices. The aim of this study was to evaluate a workstation developed for multimodality reporting in cardiac case conferencing. A PC based system was developed as part of an EU project AMIE enabling all patient data to be viewed and manipulated on a large screen display using a high resolution video projector. The digital data was acquired using a variety of methods compatible with the systems involved. A technical evaluation of the projected imagery was performed by the grading of phantom test objects. A limited clinical evaluation was also performed whereby a panel of 10 consultant radiologists and cardiologists reported on angiography and x-ray images from 50 patients. Several months later the original data sets were reported and the result compared. Results of the clinical and technical evaluations indicate that the systems is satisfactory for the primary diagnosis of all data types with the exception of x-ray. The projected x-ray imagery is satisfactory for reference and teaching purposes.

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