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R C Merrell

Publications and source records attributed to R C Merrell.

80 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Telemedicine and international disaster response. Medical consultation to Armenia and Russia via a Telemedicine Spacebridge.

UNLABELLED: The Telemedicine Spacebridge, a satellite-mediated, audio-video-fax link between four United States and two Armenian and Russian medical centers, permitted remote American consultants to assist Armenian and Russian physicians in the management of medical problems following the December 1988 earthquake in Armenia and the June 1989 gas explosion near Ufa. METHODS: During 12 weeks of operations, 247 Armenian and Russian and 175 American medical professionals participated in 34 half-day clinical conferences. A total of 209 patients were discussed, requiring expertise in 20 specialty areas. RESULTS: Telemedicine consultations resulted in altered diagnoses for 54, new diagnostic studies for 70, altered diagnostic processes for 47, and modified treatment plans for 47 of 185 Armenian patients presented. Simultaneous participation of several US medical centers was judged beneficial; quality of data transmission was judged excellent. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that interactive consultation by remote specialists can provide valuable assistance to on-site physicians and favorably influence clinical decisions in the aftermath of major disasters.

Armenia↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Telemedicine and international disaster response: medical consultation to Armenia and Russia via a Telemedicine Spacebridge.

UNLABELLED: The Telemedicine Spacebridge, a satellite-mediated, audio-video-fax link between four United States and two Armenian and Russian medical centers, permitted remote American consultants to assist Armenian and Russian physicians in the management of medical problems following the December 1988 earthquake in Armenia and the June 1989 gas explosion near Ufa. METHODS: During 12 weeks of operations, 247 Armenian and Russian and 175 American medical professionals participated in 34 half-day clinical conferences. A total of 209 patients were discussed, requiring expertise in 20 specialty areas. RESULTS: Telemedicine consultations resulted in altered diagnoses for 54, new diagnostic studies for 70, altered diagnostic processes for 47, and modified treatment plans for 47 of 185 Armenian patients presented. Simultaneous participation of several US medical centers was judged beneficial; quality of data transmission was judged excellent. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that interactive consultation by remote specialists can provide valuable assistance to on-site physicians and favorably influence clinical decisions in the aftermath of major disasters.

Aerospace Medicine↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Applications of robotics in surgery.

The end of the 20th century brought an increased use of computerized technology in medicine and surgery. The development of robotic surgical systems opened new approaches in general and cardiac surgery. Two leading robotic companies, Computer Motion, Inc. and Intuitive Surgical, Inc. have developed the Zeus and Da Vinci respectively, as very effective tools for surgeons to use. Both of them consist of a surgeon console, located far from the operating table, and three robotic arms, which reproduce inside the patient's body the movements performed by the surgeon at the console. The advantages of robotic surgery over laparoscopy and open surgery include: better eye-hand coordination, tremor filtration, steadiness of camera, 3-D vision, motion scale, more degrees of freedom for instruments etc. Of course, there are also some disadvantages, like the lack of tactile feedback, long time of set up, long learning curve, high cost etc. However, the advantages seem to overcome the disadvantages and more and more operations are conducted using robots. The impact of robotics in surgery is therefore very promising and in the future it will probably open even more new ways in the surgical practice and education both in Romania and across the globe.

Forecasting↗