Duplex ultrasound appears to be very accurate in the detection of acute proximal deep-vein thrombosis. This test has major advantages as well as certain limitations compared with other diagnostic methods.

The introduction of telemedicine into rural communities is associated with increases in the local communities' perception of local health care quality. Therefore, is it possible that telemedicine may result in a decrease in the desire and need for local patients to travel outside of their community for health care services.

The aim of this study was to determine whether outpatient telemedicine specialty consultations to primary care clinicians result in changes in a patient's diagnosis, treatment management, and clinical outcomes. Medical records of patients who received two or more clinical telemedicine consultations in dermatology, psychiatry, and endocrinology were evaluated in a nonconcurrent retrospective analysis. Three indicators were used to measure changes in the processes of care and clinical outcomes: change in diagnosis, change in treatment, and patient clinical improvement. A retrospective review of 223 individual telemedicine patient medical records was conducted. Specialty telemedicine consultations were found to result in changes in diagnoses in 48% of the cases, changes in treatment therapy in 81.6% of the cases, and clinical improvement in 60.1%. These results are consistent with previous literature that has assessed changes in processes of care and outcomes from face-to-face specialty consultations in outpatient clinics. Changes in diagnosis and treatment therapy were found to be associated with clinical improvement with odds ratios (ORs) of 2.66 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.47-4.83) and 11.22 (95% CI: 4.49-31.48), respectively. This study found that telemedicine consultations resulted in changes in diagnosis and treatment regimens and also are associated with clinical improvements.

In a prospective, randomized study at two university hospitals, the authors examined how effectively housestaff physicians (n = 36) managed the initiation of warfarin therapy compared with a computer-assisted dosing regimen (n = 39) using the software program Warfcalc, which was managed by one of the authors. Target prothrombin time ratios were selected by the physicians. Study endpoints included: the time to reach a therapeutic prothrombin ratio, the time to reach a stable therapeutic dose, the number of patients transiently overanticoagulated, the number of bleeding complications, and the accuracy of the predicted maintenance dose, which was assessed at steady-state 10-14 days later. Computer-assisted dosing consistently out-performed the physicians: a stable therapeutic dose was achieved 3.7 days earlier (p = 0.002), fewer patients were overanticoagulated (10% versus 41%), and the predicted maintenance dose was in the therapeutic range in 85% of the computer-dosed patients versus 42% of the physician group (p less than 0.002). For physicians who did not routinely manage warfarin therapy, computer-assisted dosing improved the accuracy of dosing and shortened the time required to achieve a stable therapeutic dose.

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In a prospective, randomized clinical trial we compared the efficacy of subcutaneously (SC) administered (every 8 h) calcium heparin to intravenous (IV) sodium heparin in the treatment of proximal deep-vein thrombosis (DVT). A secondary objective was to give enough heparin to achieve a therapeutic anticoagulant effect by the end of the first 24 h. Five of 36 patients (14%) in the SC heparin group failed to achieve a therapeutic anticoagulant effect by the end of the first 24 h compared to 2 of 23 patients (9%) in the IV group (p = NS; 95% Cl for true difference = -11.7% to 22.1%). Two of 31 patients (6.5%) in the SC group had venographic evidence of clot propagation compared to 1 of 19 patients (5.3 %) in the IV group (p = NS; 95 % CI for true difference = -12.4% to 14.8 %). The rate of major hemorrhagic complications was similar in each group (∼ 15%). We conclude: (1) using a large initial dose of SC heparin, a therapeutic anticoagulant effect can be readily achieved within 24 h, and (2) combining the results of this trial with previous studies, the efficacy of SC administered calcium appears to be comparable to IV sodium heparin.

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