PDA-phone-based instant transmission of radiological images over a CDMA network by combining the PACS screen with a Bluetooth-interfaced local wireless link

Remote teleconsultation by specialists is important for timely, correct, and specialized emergency surgical and medical decision making. In this paper, we designed a new personal digital assistant (PDA)-phone-based emergency teleradiology system by combining cellular communication with Bluetooth-interfaced local wireless links. The mobility and portability resulting from the use of PDAs and wireless communication can provide a more effective means of emergency teleconsultation without requiring the user to be limited to a fixed location. Moreover, it enables synchronized radiological image sharing between the attending physician in the emergency room and the remote specialist on picture archiving and communication system terminals without distorted image acquisition. To enable rapid and fine-quality radiological image transmission over a cellular network in a secure manner, progressive compression and security mechanisms have been incorporated. The proposed system is tested over a code division Multiple Access 1x-Evolution Data-Only network to evaluate the performance and to demonstrate the feasibility of this system in a real-world setting.