RSNA News - December 2004

A press release has been sent to the medical news media for the following special report appearing in Radiology (rsna.org/radiologyjnl):

"Evaluation of Shoulder Integrity in Space: First Report of Musculoskeletal US on the International Space Station"

The ability to provide medical care aboard a spacecraft is challenging because of limitations in crew medical training, medical equipment and environmental constraints in microgravity.

Documentation of the first shoulder ultrasound examination ever performed in microgravity of spaceflight will appear as a special report in the February 2005 issue of Radiology, and is available online now at radiology.rsnajnls.org/cgi/content/full/2342041680v1, along with audio, video and photographs.

E. Michael Fincke, M.S., from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and colleagues aboard the International Space Station found that the medical images acquired by the astronaut were of excellent content and quality, and in a "real" medical scenario, would have provided essential information to guide clinical decision making.

They write: "The remotely guided ultrasound concept, with crew medical officers or comparably trained first responders as operators, is an important and clinically relevant advancement in space medicine, with profound ramifications for emergency or clinical medicine."

Cabin view obtained with a still camera of the Human Research Facility (HRF) on the International Space Station. Commander Gennady Palalka performs a musculoskeletal US examination on Mike Fincke by using an HRF US unit (blue flat-screen monitor and keyboard). (Radiology 2004, 10.1148/radiol.2342041680) © 2004 RSNA. All rights reserved. Printed with permission.

RSNA press releases are available at www.rsna.org/media.