Researchers at IIT-Delhi and AIIMS have developed a Telerobotic Ultrasound System that allows remote ultrasound access through a robotic arm. The need for this innovation arose during the first nationwide lockdown in 2020 when COVID-19 cases and deaths were shooting up sharply.
The researchers said the prevailing situation impacted regular healthcare services, especially those involving direct physical contact with patients like ultrasound scanning, and they got to work to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals by leveraging their expertise in robotic technology.
The new system will allow doctors and radiologists to perform scans by maintaining stringent social distancing and not coming into contact with the patient, the researchers said.
Multiple benefits
In the routine ultrasound setting, the doctor (radiologist) stands in close contact with the patient for the entire scan duration. However, cross-sectional imaging is preferred in the current pandemic scenario with stringent social distancing requirements — a more expensive and less dynamic technique. Ultrasonography is a non-invasive, non-ionising, cost-effective, rapid, bedside, and readily available modality with immense use in point-of-care and follow-up examinations.
Chandrashekhara from AIIMS in New Delhi, said that the system will promote healthcare and make our system more prepared for further pandemics.
“Besides its role in the pandemic, it will allow a better outreach of ultrasound imaging to remote rural areas of India. The radiologist manipulates the ultrasound probe remotely from a remote location, acquires the ultrasonographs, and then transmits them to the monitors at the doctor’s end through a Wi-Fi network,” Dr. Chandrashekhara explained.
He added that sitting at a remote location, the doctor can visualise all the images and assess the patient, similar to a clinical setting and that the facility can also be extended for global outreach.
