The clinical need for tele-echocardiography

Requests for tele-medicine are rapidly growing. We are now used to being constantly connected to the internet via laptops, smartphones and, recently, tablet computers. The next step is to have access to work-related data, such as echocardiographic images. The continuous and rapid growth of echocardiography as the mainstream cardiac imaging modality (40 %), and the use of portable ultrasound devices, are stimulating this request for tele-echocardiography. With the diagnostic quality of the tablet computer screens, the future of tele-echocardiography looks bright.