Telesupported procedures: when and how

Telesupport means guidance of a procedure performed at one location by another clinician at a different location. In a pilot study, 21 percutaneous coronary interventions and nine catheter ablations were successfully performed without complications with telesupport from a remote university hospital. Telesupport is a powerful tool that can be especially useful when urgent care is needed or when transfer is not an option, but it also has limitations, such as network failure or difficulties handling complications; judicious use is key to optimizing outcomes.