The Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity (ADUM) project is a U.S. government-funded study investigating strategies for applying diagnostic telemedicine to space. The Principal Investigator is

Scott Dulchavsky Scott Dulchavsky is the Roy D. McClure Chairman of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief at the Henry Ford Hospital and Professor of Surgery, Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Wayne State University School of Medicine The Wayne State University Schoo ...

, Chairman of Surgery at the

Henry Ford Health System Henry Ford Health (formerly the Henry Ford Health System) is an integrated, not-for-profit health care organization in Metro Detroit. The corporate office is at One Ford Place, in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, ...

. This study was the first formal experiment to examine the use of ultrasound in microgravity encompassing musculoskeletal, heart, lung, abdominal, pelvic, dental, and orbital scans. Ultrasound is the only medical imaging device currently available on board the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

. In addition, the lack of physician expertise on board the ISS makes diagnosis of medical conditions challenging. Ultrasound may have direct application for the evaluation and diagnosis of hundreds of medical conditions and is of interest for treating exploration crews. The telemedicine strategies investigated by this project has widespread application on Earth in emergency and rural care situations. Ultrasound images from space from a variety of body regions have been shown to be of diagnostic quality and non-expert operators were easily trained in ultrasound skills. This work has been expanded to include professional Football, Baseball, and Ice Hockey teams as well as the Winter and Summer Olympic Games in collaboration with investigators such as

Marnix Van Holsbeeck Marnix van Holsbeeck (born 1957) is the director of musculoskeletal radiology in the Department of Radiology and director of radiology in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Henry Ford Health System. He is an authority in the field of mu ...

. Dr. Dulchavsky has also led an innovative pilot study to expand comprehensive ultrasound education to basic science medical students at the

Wayne State University School of Medicine The Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSUSOM) is the medical school of Wayne State University, a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It enrolls more than 1,500 students in undergraduate medical education, master's degree, P ...

. This trial has been shown to be a success with over 82 percent of students agreeing or strongly agreeing that their educational experience with the lightweight ultrasound technology education was positive. This technology is now being taught to medical students in their clinical clerkships.

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20091029061057/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/ADUM.html *Battling Fire and Ice: remote guidance ultrasound to diagnose injury on the International Space Station and the ice rink: http://www.ajsfulltextonline.com/article/S0002-9610%2806%2900802-6/abstract *A Pilot Study of Comprehensive Ultrasound Education at the Wayne State University School of Medicine: https://web.archive.org/web/20100713124805/http://www.jultrasoundmed.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/5/745 Medical ultrasonography