Remote Imager Designed to Provide Disease Data

A remotely operated X-ray system that has the potential to provide diagnoses of infectious respiratory diseases for millions in developing countries may also provide data for the discoverers and developers of drugs to cure such diseases.

The device is called Remi-d, and it is the product of efforts by the not-for-profit World Health Imaging, Telemedicine and Informatics Alliance (WHITIA; Chicago, IL, USA); Merge Healthcare (Milwaukee, WI, USA), a radiology workflow solutions provider; and manufacturer Sedecal (Madrid, Spain).

The aim is to deploy Remi-d worldwide, according to Ivy Walker, CEO at WHITIA, paving the way for health screenings for those who may otherwise have no timely diagnosis. The system is still being customized, but was demonstrated at the 2009 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting, held in Chicago, IL, USA, in November-December 2009. Field-testing will follow, and the system will then be submitted for regulatory approval.

The data collected by Remi-d, frequently from areas where radiologists and technologists are few, may also help provide early warnings of disease outbreak. "Beyond just the remote imaging in developing countries, we'll see conditions and variations not seen in the developed world,” said Ms. Walker. "Especially with tuberculosis--there are more drug-resistant strains emerging. We see where it's popping up.”

Although at this early stage of development no programs yet exist for making Remi-d data available for drug discovery, they are also on the WHITIA agenda, according to Ms. Walker. "We're working on a protocol to collect information. There's currently little consistency across diagnoses of tuberculosis; little sharing of data. Hope to share with public health authorities and the World Health Organization [Geneva, Switzerland]. We would provide the platform technology to do that.”

Related Links:
World Health Imaging, Telemedicine and Informatics Alliance
Merge Healthcare
Sedecal