TOWARD THE MULTIMEDIA PATIENT RECORD: A DIGITAL AUDIO AND VIDEO CAPTURE, ARCHIVING, AND REVIEW SYSTEM FOR ENDOSCOPIC PROCEDURES

JA Cafazzo, PG Rossos, JKT Lam, A Chagpar, WB Igharas, E Seto, AC Easty CCE

University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario

INTRODUCTION: The documentation of endoscopic procedures has traditionally been limited to text-based narratives. Video printers and videotape recorders may greatly improve the procedure record, but are impractical due to difficulty of storage and retrieval. Digital video, through the use of databases, networks and mass storage devices, can eliminate the need to physically store videotapes and offers significant advantages.
METHODS: A digital endoscopic video system that integrates into an existing EPR infrastructure was developed. Real-time encoding from the endoscope processor output was achieved using an MPEG-1 encoder card running on Windows 2000. Voice annotation was possible via a wireless microphone. Simultaneous still image capture occurred through independent cards. The MPEG-1 digital video was then transferred over a 100 Mbps Ethernet network to a server for storage and later retrieval. The video was then reviewed through a web-based ASP application utilizing the Windows Media Player MPEG-1 decoder.
RESULTS: Advances in computer hardware and network infrastructure have alleviated the storage and bandwidth limitations to archiving and retrieval of endoscopic digital video. Inexpensive commercially available components may be used to capture and compress digital endoscopic video from any source.
CONCLUSIONS: Voice-annotated digital video provides a more comprehensive endoscopic patient record enabling improved patient care, teaching and research.