Video Conference of Ophthalmology Specialists

The regular medical conference titled Live and Video Surgery 2007 took place in the Central Military Hospital in Prague (Ústřední vojenská nemocnice Prah – ÚVN) on Friday 26 January 2007 and Saturday 27 January 2007. This eighth year of the conference was revolutionary since live surgical operations were broadcast in cooperation with CESNET and CNC not only from operating rooms of the Ophthalmology Clinic of ÚVN but also three other workplaces at university hospitals (Hradec Králové, Ostrava-Poruba and VFN Prague 2). Physicians in the convention hall of ÚVN could follow the work of their colleagues using high quality screen projection, while bi-directional communication with the surgery halls was possible.

The main topics of this year's event included news in the cataract surgery area, vitreous and retinal surgery issues and refractive surgery. Within the meeting, almost all available forms of refractive surgery (dealing with myopia and hyperopia) were demonstrated in practise, from laser to surgical methods. The meeting agenda included interesting video records made in the operating rooms of optical surgeons from the entire country.

This unique video conference was technically secured by professionals from the CESNET academic association and CNC Praha, to whom great thanks for the successful progress of the entire event should be given. CESNET provided the technology to interconnect many entities with video channels, making it possible to perform parallel video broadcast from four operating rooms to the conference hall. The infrastructure of the CESNET2 research network was used for the broadcast. Experts from CNC Praha designed and implemented a technical video conference solution at each workplace, providing technical support in the course of the conference. The Polycom HDX video conference devices enabled quality HDTV broadcasts. This is the first time ever that a video conference with such high video transfer quality requirements has taken place in the Czech Republic.

Central Military Hospital in Prague (Ústřední vojenská nemocnice Praha) became the first internationally accredited hospital in the Czech Republic in 2004. The accreditation certification confirms the high proficiency of its medical care and safe environment for its patients. With a capacity of 641 beds, the hospital is focused on emergency medicine and treatment of polytraumas. The hospital provides the entire range of medical services, excluding obstetrics, paediatrics and cardiac surgery. (More information available at www.uvn.cz)

The CESNET association was founded by universities and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The association is currently financed mainly from the resources of the governmental Committee for Research and Education and the resources of the members of the association. The association performs research and development in the area of information and communication technologies, building and developing the national gigabit optical network, CESNET2, designed for research and educational purposes. With its research activities and accomplishments, the CESNET association can represent the Czech Republic in the European GN2 project as well as other international projects.

CNC Praha provides advanced technologies and services enabling remote cooperation in teams. The company operates as a system integrator in the area of audio/video/data conferences. CNC Praha, s. r. o., founded in 1995, conducts business across the entire area of Eastern Europe, with the number of deployed applications positioning this company among the market leaders. The company possesses a quality management certificate in accordance with ISO 9001. In 2006, the number of video conference solutions for corporations exceeded 500 installations in the area of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Russia and Ukraine. The company is also strongly involved in the area of remote education in both the state and public sectors. (More information available at www.cnc.cz)