Link via Internet delivers MGH care to Turkish boy, 7

Monday morning, 7-year-old Oguzcan Babaoglu was playing at schoolin Istanbul, Turkey, when he suddenly fell down.

He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors became suspicious thathe had suffered more than a simple broken hip. They took X-rays and,in what is believed to be a medical first, sent the images to doctorsat Massachusetts General Hospital via the Internet.

Doctors around the world have been using telemedicine to help eachother with complicated cases for several years, said Dr. GilesBoland, director of teleradiology at MGH. But until now, X-rayimages have been sent through a more cumbersome and expensivetechnology that often required four telephone lines to send a singleimage to a distant site.This time, said Boland, the doctors in Istanbul sent the X-raysover the Internet, for free, using software developed by aCambridge-based company, the Autocyt Group.The X-rays were scanned into a machine that digitizes theinformation. The digital data is put into a computer that compressesit and sends it over the Internet to designated receivers who havesecurity codes to retrieve the information.The cost of the scanners, other equipment, and software is about$50,000, far less than the $100,000 cost using the old technology.As Babaoglu lay in the emergency room in Istanbul, his X-rays wereexamined by doctors at MGH, who diagnosed a benign tumor in his lefthip. The tumor apparently had weakened the bone so much that whenBabaoglu fell, his hip broke.Accompanied by his parents, Babaoglu flew to Boston on Wednesdaywith a temporary cast on his hip and underwent surgery at MGH onThursday morning.The tumor had weakened so much bone tissue that the child was leftwith a fluid-filled hole in his hip. The fluid was drained onThursday. The child's hip will now remain in a cast for three weeksso that his paper-thin bone can heal.At that point, doctors will probably insert bone chips and perhapspins in the hip to hold it together permanently. The child isexpected to do well, Boland added."This is the first time anyone has used the Internet for clinicaluse of X-ray images," he said. "People have done it experimentally,but to actually use it for patient care, this is a first, as far aswe know."