Prenatal diagnosis and telemedicine consultation of fetal urologic disorders

This study is a retrospective case series, describing all the patients who had a prenatally diagnosed urologic anomaly that required prenatal urologic consultation. From 2009–2013, approximately 1300 anomalies were recorded in the Arkansas Fetal Diagnosis and Management (AFDM) database, 14% of which were urologic anomalies. Twenty-six cases required prenatal urologic consultation, 25 of which were conducted via telemedicine. Teleconsultation allowed patients to combine maternal-fetal medicine and urologic consultations in one visit, saving time and effort and ultimately, for most patients, providing reassurance that delivery could be accomplished locally with postnatal follow-up already arranged. While there are several studies reporting the use of telemedicine for various subspecialty consultations, to our knowledge, this is the first to describe the use of telemedicine for prenatal urology consultation. Future research could randomize patients prospectively to allow comparison of both the outcomes as well as the patient experience.
Source: Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Research/Original Articles Source Type: research