Ultrasound for Astronauts
Baku, June 6 (AZERTAC). The remoteness and resource limitations of spaceflight pose a serious challenge to astronaut health care. One solution is ultrasound.
Scientists with the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) have developed tools that expand the use of ultrasound during spaceflight and on Earth, especially in rural and underserved locations. These tools include techniques that streamline training and help remote experts guide non-physician astronauts to perform ultrasound exams. Ultrasound can be used to assess numerous conditions - fractured bones, collapsed lungs, kidney stones, organ damage and other ailments - in space and on Earth. With an NSBRI grant, they also created a catalog, or atlas, of "space-normal" imagery of the human body, setting the stage for astronauts to provide care without consulting a physician on Earth. This atlas was handed over to NASA.
Dr. Scott A. Dulchavsky, the Roy D. McClure Chairman of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, is the principal investigator of these projects and is a member of the NSBRI Smart Medical Systems and Technology Team. "The ultrasound imagery techniques came from space program constraints of not having a trained radiologist on orbit or having a CAT scan or an MRI available, forcing us to use ultrasound for things in which we would not normally use it," he said. "Also, time limitations forced us to put some tight brackets around what is absolutely required for training to be able to obtain a high-quality ultrasound image and to make some sense out of the image."
One of the first to be trained and to conduct an ultrasound exam in space was former NASA Astronaut and ISS Expedition 10 Commander Dr. Leroy Chiao. "We demonstrated on the International Space Station that even non-physicians can produce diagnostic-quality ultrasound images using remote guidance," said Chiao who is chairman of the NSBRI User Panel and a member of Baylor College of Medicine's Center for Space Medicine. "These ultrasound exam techniques and atlas will be increasingly important as we venture farther and longer into space. Telemedicine using ultrasound will be an invaluable medical diagnostic tool."
The ultrasound imaging techniques are also being used by athletic trainers for some professional sports teams and the United States Olympic Committee to get point-of-care rapid information about athletes' injuries.
Other news in this section
