Can teleultrasound improve POCUS in horses?

JAVMA 2024

Author

Ryan Appleby
March 12, 2024

Laurence Leduc DVM, DACVIM, Claire Underwood VetMB, PhD , Darko Stefanovski PhD , Samuel Hurcombe DACVIM, DACVECC , and Cristobal Navas de Solis PhD, DACVIM

Study:

  • The article discusses an evaluation of remote assistance for point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) in a large animal hospital.

  • Objective: To assess the accuracy of POCUS examinations during equine emergency evaluations with remote assistance.

  • Animals: Adult horses presenting for respiratory or gastrointestinal signs.

  • Design: A prospective, randomized, controlled, clinical study.

Methods:

  • Cases were randomly assigned to either POCUS with remote assistance (“POCUS-R” group) or POCUS without assistance (“POCUS” group).

  • The study measured the accuracy of diagnosis, duration of sonograms, and survival to discharge.

Results:

  • 29 cases were enrolled over 18 months.

  • The POCUS-R group had longer sonogram durations.

  • No significant difference in the final diagnosis accuracy, number of diagnoses listed, or survival rates between groups.

Limitations:

  • Teleultrasound was not well adopted, likely due to logistical and technical issues, and the inconvenience of study enrollment.

  • The study suggests further research with a larger sample size to improve statistical power.

Conclusions:

  • Remote assistance did not significantly improve the outcomes of POCUS in this setting.

  • The study highlights the need for better integration of teleultrasound in clinical practice to enhance its adoption and effectiveness.

Study design and data collection.

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