Johnston WKIII et al. (2005) Wireless teleradiology for renal colic and renal trauma. J Endourol 19: 32–36

The transmission of digitized radiographic images is having a positive impact on diagnosis, treatment, and education in many fields of medicine. A team of urologists has now explored the possibility of using wireless networks, by sending CT images to a handheld computer (PDA).

Their pilot study was based on the diagnosis of 10 patients with suspected renal colic and another with renal trauma. An average of six CT images from each patient were compressed into JPEG files and uploaded to an email account on a secure server. These were then accessed on a cellular telephone, and transmitted to a PDA via a data cable. (Alternatively, images could be downloaded directly from the server using an integrated PDA-telephone, but the models available at the time of the study lacked adequate display parameters.)

The CT images were displayed on the PDA and reviewed by a staff urologist, who gave a diagnostic interpretation for each patient. These results were compared with those given in the staff radiologist's report. The presence and location of calculi were correctly diagnosed in 8 of the 10 renal colic cases, and estimations of stone size agreed to within 1 ± 1 mm. All cases of hydronephrosis were correctly identified, as were 80% of cases of perinephric stranding. In addition, the renal trauma patient was accurately identified and staged.

The authors comment that the speed, quality, and quantity of transmitted images are expected to improve as advances are made in wireless data transfer and PDA screen image resolution, and they call for further studies in this area.