NORFOLK, NE – The American Educational Telecommunications (AET) announced Tuesday it had completed a first-of-its-kind, real-time remote echocardiogram of a newborn, resulting in a specialist's quick diagnosis.

According to officials at the Norfolk, Neb.-based company, a remote echocardiogram of a newborn was taken at Faith Regional Health Services in Norfolk and transferred in real time 115 miles away to the closest pediatric cardiologist for a consult, at Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha, Neb.

The diagnosis of the newborn baby with a potential heart problem used advanced wireless video conferencing technology through a mobile camera device connected to an ultrasound machine, according to AET officials.

"If the diagnosis could be determined to be a mild defect, it would enable us to keep the family together in Norfolk and immediately eliminate the uncertainty of a potentially harmful heart defect," said Keith Vrbicky, MD, the mother's OB-Gyn at Norfolk-based Midwest Health Partners. "Without the telemedicine consult, there was a real possibility that the baby would have had to be transported either via helicopter or ambulance to Omaha at a very high cost."

To perform the remote diagnosis, a Phillips 5500 ultrasound machine at Faith Regional Health Services was connected to a Librestream Onsight 2000R video device through an S-video connection. The video was securely encrypted and streamed live to Scott Fletcher, MD, a cardiologist with the University of Nebraska Medical Center/Creighton University Medical Center's Joint Division of Pediatric Cardiology in Omaha.

Fletcher viewed the ultrasound from Children's Hospital and confirmed the diagnosis  of a mild muscular ventricular sepal defect – not life-threatening or lifestyle-limiting – to the baby's pediatrician, Jayan Vasudevan, MD.

According to AET officials, the telemedicine technology used was a result of the combined efforts of AET, remote wireless device provider Librestream, Phillips and both hospitals.

AET was able to set up the secure network infrastructure between Faith Regional Health Services and Children's Hospital within 30 minutes, officials said.