Live Internet broadcasts of ophthalmologic surgeries in the CESNET2 network

The CESNET association in cooperation with CNC Praha will arrange live Internet broadcasts of several ophthalmologic surgeries in the course of a video conference organised during the Live + Video Surgery 2010 meeting of the ophthalmologists. This tenth year of the annual meeting will be organised by the Central Military Hospital in Prague on Friday 22 January and Saturday 23 January 2010.

The live broadcasts from the operating rooms of the Clinic of Ophthalmology at the Central Military Hospital in Prague will provide spectators in the conference hall with a view of the surgery field as well as comments by the operator. In addition, the video conference will allow the online connection of the operating rooms of other ophthalmology clinics, more specifically the ophthalmology clinics from the Faculty Hospital in Hradec Králové, Olomouc, and Ostrava. Examples of refractive, vitreoretinal, cataract, and glaucoma surgeries will be available for viewing.

CESNET will provide the technology for connection of the multiple partners involved to allow live broadcasts from multiple operating rooms at the same time to the conference hall. The infrastructure of the CESNET2 research network will be used for the broadcasts. Experts from CNC Praha have designed and will implement the technical solution of the videoconference and they will provide technical support to the ophthalmology clinics in Hradec Králové, Olomouc and Ostrava throughout the conference. Videoconference equipment deployed by LifeSize and Polycom will allow broadcasting in high-definition quality. A special videoconference stand jointly developed for tele-medical applications will be used as well. Together with the main camera, screen and wireless microphone receiver, the videoconference equipment is part of a tele-medical truck with a built-in uninterruptible power supply.

This solution allows easy relocation from one room to another during one day without the necessity of turning all the components off and on again. The assembly complies with the health and technical requirements applicable to appliances used right in the operating rooms.

An identical solution was used for the previous three Live + Video Surgery conferences, giving doctors from different locations in the Czech Republic the chance to watch surgeries in almost equal quality as to being present in the operating theatre thanks to video broadcastings.

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 Research and Development Board and funds of the association members. The association performs the research and development 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 pan-European GN2 and other international projects. In addition, CESNET is involved in use of high-speed networks for sharing of multimedia data both synchronously in the form of videoconferences and shared applications as well as asynchronously in the form of streaming.

CNC Praha provides advanced technologies and services for team remote cooperation. The company was incorporated in 1995 and has been active in the territory of Eastern Europe and the number of applications installed ranks it among the market leaders. The company management is certified according to ISO 9001. The company is also strongly involved in the field of remote education in state and private spheres. More information available at www.cnc.cz.

Ústřední vojenská nemocnice Praha (Central Military Hospital Praha) has been the first internationally accredited hospital in the Czech Republic since 2004. Accredited certification is confirmation of the high expertise of medical care and a safe environment for patients. The hospital has 641 beds and prioritises to emergency medicine and treatment of poly-traumas. The hospital provides a full range of health care except for obstetrics, paediatric care and cardio-surgery. More information available at www.uvn.cz.