Pocket-sized, wireless-Bluetooth ultrasound system to perform diagnostic and low-complexity interventional procedures in bedridden patients during the COVID-19 pandemic: from intensive care unit to domiciliary service?

Abstract

The use of a pocked-sized, wireless-Bluetooth ultrasound portable system with display images presented on a tablet facilitated the work of our radiologists during the first wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to perform diagnostic and interventional procedures in bedridden patients. The device is equipped with a battery-powered probe without cables that transmits images to a tablet (or a cell phone) through a dedicated App. We hypothesise in future to extend diagnostic and low-complexity interventional procedures from hospitalised patients to at-home patients who are not able to mobilise out of bed or are difficult to transport. This domiciliary service might also reduce the overhead of hospital accesses.

Keywords: Bedridden persons; COVID-19; Mobile applications; Ultrasonography; Wireless technology.

Fig. 1

Percutaneous transhepatic ultrasound-guided cholecystostomy through an intercostal approach in a coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19, patient with acute cholecystitis. The guidewire (A), the “railway sign” of the gallbladder wall (arrow), and the presence of sludge and microlithiasis (asterisk) are shown in a. The interventional radiology team performing percutaneous gallbladder drainage at the bedside in intensive care unit is shown in b

Fig. 2

A low-complexity interventional radiology procedure performed at the patient's bedside using a pocket-sized, wireless-Bluetooth ultrasound system. Images show the diagnostic ultrasound of the right pleural cavity displayed on the tablet (a) and the placement of the pleural drainage (b, c)