Remote-controlled robot performs ultrasounds on rural patients

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Some heart patients living in the Queensland outback are having ultrasounds done by a robotic arm operated from more than 1000 kilometres away. The cutting-edge technology heralds a new era in remote controlled medicine.

Transcript

00:00 May Cameron lives in the remote Queensland town of Longreach.

00:05 Hello puppies. Hello babies.

00:08 In late 2022 she had a major health scare when monitoring detected a very low heart

00:14 rate. They called the RFDS plane and I was picked

00:18 up at 9 o'clock on Friday morning and in Brisbane by 1 o'clock.

00:22 The 42-year-old bank manager had an implantable defibrillator placed in her chest.

00:29 She'll need regular cardiac ultrasounds, something that would usually mean leaving Benson and

00:34 Millie for an 1100 kilometre trek to Brisbane. Shake.

00:40 But this machine has changed that. The robotic arm means that I'm not going to

00:44 have to travel away to have that done and I can actually have it done here in town in

00:48 Longreach which is, it's amazing really. Using a modified video game controller, a

00:54 sonographer in the city is manoeuvring a robotic arm which has an ultrasound probe.

01:00 Images are sent back instantly, meaning the sonographer can quickly report the findings

01:08 to a cardiologist. It's a big leap in remote controlled testing.

01:13 This is the exciting one. So this has not been able to have been done anywhere in the

01:17 world. It could help save lives.

01:19 We see a 25% higher morbidity and mortality in rural locations due to reduced access to

01:25 specialist care. This team has started with remote controlled

01:29 scans of the heart which are actually the most difficult. But the potential is endless.

01:35 Next up are abdominal and even pregnancy ultrasounds. And maybe one day remote controlled operations.

01:44 They're life changing technical leaps for regional residents.

01:48 It's the emotional side more than anything that it's going to help.

01:51 Projects like this getting rolled out throughout the state would be a great step forward.

01:56 Cardiac patients in Longreach and Kloncurry will be first to use the robots as part of

02:01 a pilot study. Ultimately it's hoped the machines will have global benefits.

02:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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