Wireless technology cuts the time it takes for hospitals to receive vital heart images from ambulances

In most medical emergencies, seconds count.

That’s why a new technology at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics could save lives. UI Hospitals and Clinics is the state’s first hospital to have the technology, which enables digital images of heart activity to be sent wirelessly from ambulances equipped with the appropriate EKG machines.

This capacity allows physicians to diagnose if someone is having a heart attack before the patient reaches the hospital.

 “What this does is give us notice to assemble a team to treat the patient and save precious time,” says Theresa Brennan, M.D., a UI Heart and Vascular Center cardiologist. “The more heart muscle dies, the more complications you have.”

The new technology, called LIFENET, allows cardiologists to view electrocardiograms sent from an ambulance. The images come in to the hospital's receiving stations, which transmit them to the e-mail inboxes and cell phones of the hospital's cardiologists.

In the past, the machines in the ambulances that made the EKG recordings sent the images via fax. The quality was relatively poor and hard to read, Brennan says. The new system allows for clear, digital images to be sent by cell phone.

90 minutes is ideal

The American Heart Association recommends that a patient undergo angioplasty within 90 minutes of entering a hospital with a heart attack. UI Heart and Vascular Center cardiologist Theresa Brennan, M.D., says LIFENET technology helps physicians get the artery open faster, and well under the recommended time.

Instant Messaging
Johnson county paramedic Tamara Buffington uses cell phone technology to instantly transmit digital heart images from inside an ambulance to specialists at UI Hospitals and Clinics, while fellow paramedic Jim Polaschek observes the monitor.