Interactive teleradiology: design and development of a wireless architecture enabling user mobility

This paper presents an advanced telemedicine architecture enabling mobile teleconsulting and telediagnosis applications in the medical imaging domain. The feasibility of a portable teleradiology unit based on a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and providing medical experts with wireless connectivity over the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) of the GSM telecommunication network has been experienced by extending to mobile users the interactive services currently provided by an existing regional network for radiological teleconsulting devoted to mild head injury case management. Moreover, the effectiveness of synchronous cooperative work applications including voice conferencing and medical data sharing in a mobile environment has been evaluated. By ensuring skilled medical staff availability wherever and wherever needed still providing the same capabilities of traditional telemedicine systems over broadband networks, the proposed architecture will contribute to increase the quality of remote health care delivery.