The effect of bandwidth on the quality of transmitted pediatric echocardiograms
John P Finley1, Robert Justo, Maria Loane
1Children's Heart Centre, Izaak Walton Killam Health Centre and Dalhousie University, 5850 University Avenue, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3J 3G9. john.finley@iwk.nshealth.ca
Background:
Remote access to pediatric cardiology diagnostic services is enabled by real-time transmission of echocardiographic images. Several transmission bandwidths have been used but there has been little analysis of image quality provided by different bandwidths. We designed a study of the quality of transmitted images at various bandwidths.
Methods:
Two echocardiographers viewed randomly a series of 13 recorded pediatric echocardiographic images either directly or after transmission using 1 of 4 bandwidths: 256; 384; 512; or 768 kbps. An image clarity scoring scale was used to assess image quality of cardiac structures.
Results:
Measurable differences were found in image quality with different transmission bandwidths; 512 kbps was the minimum for consistently clear imaging of all cardiac structures examined.
Conclusion:
Bandwidth greater than 512 kbps confers sharper images subjectively although this could not be quantified by our methods.
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