by Cindy A. Abole, Public Relations

MUSC’s Digestive Disease Center has gone high-tech.

DDC video services assistant Christine Toland shelves videos within the department’s teaching laboratory. Many videos document previous gastroenterological procedures conducted by the staff.

Director Dr. Peter B. Cotton often leads teaching seminars and endoscopy conferences through DDC's new video conference room.

Toland observes and records a live procedure inside the department's professional editing suite.

Actually, the center’s commitment to excellence and innovation in teaching, research and patient care was established long ago, but its state-of-the-art video conferencing room built adjacent to procedure rooms will usher the DDC into the next century with world-wide distance learning, teleconsulting and research collaboration.

More than a regional gastroenterological learning resource center, this video networking system allows the DDC to provide a high quality teaching environment to visiting delegates or colleagues linking electronically from around the world.

Imagine physicians watching a gastroenterology or GI procedure in real time by television link. Next, imagine a camera panning to a conference room filled with GI specialists discussing procedures and sharing their thoughts and expertise with an audience over 2,000 miles away. The technology already exists at MUSC.

The project is a goal achieved for Peter B. Cotton, M.D., FRCP, professor of medicine and director of the DDC.

“We’ve established a tremendous team of talented people,” said Cotton of the DDC staff. “We have had terrific support from MUSC leadership. We’re working to make this a leading academic center in the area of digestive disease. This project certainly brings the DDC ahead of other teaching institutions.”

Organized in 1994, the DDC was formed as a multi-disciplinary, patient-friendly and cost-effective approach linking the digestive expertise of the departments of Medicine, Surgery and Radiology. The center’s clinical activities feature integrated medical-surgical gastroenterology clinics and endoscopy facilities. The center was founded to gather specialists who are involved in evaluating, treating and researching gastrointestinal disorders. One of the center’s primary focus is the development and implementation of new communications and teaching technologies. Key to the plan is the creation of distance education opportunities through the use of today’s multimedia technology.

The 30x16-foot room, reminiscent of NASA’s mission control center, is outfitted with video mon itors creating a visual picture block of live or recorded images. Behind a large screen monitor sits a professional editing suite complete with the latest video editing equipment available and V-caster system, an independent broadcast system which provides direct uplinks for viewing live or taped video which can be viewed via computer desktop. Adjoining this room is the DDC’s teaching laboratory. It houses six computer work stations equipped with CD-Rom bays, high definition Sony BetaCam recorders and monitors outfitted with desktop conferencing packages which can assist in capturing, editing and storing digital video images and information.

“This editing suite provides specialists with the ability to create a comprehensive repository of films and images which can be distributed via the Internet,” Cotton said.

The DDC’s endoscopy suites also accommodate video cameras and audio interfaces linked to a control console within the video conference room. Observers can watch live procedures from the conference room while reserving the privacy and integrity of the patients.

“Specialists can virtually stay at home and learn, view information, access resources, etc.,” Cotton said. “This is the future.” Cotton believes this new technology greatly expands educational opportunities available for health professionals, while offering convenience and reducing travel costs.

Physicians continually benefit from teaching techniques, live demonstrations and electronic interface with other institutions. In Fall 1998, Cotton hosted an endoscopy conference with the Glasgow Royal Infirmiry in Scotland. The program featured live procedures with MUSC chief endoscopist Robert H. Hawes, M.D. The two-hour event gathered more than 300 specialists in Charleston Glasgow and an adjoining link in Hong Kong.

DDC’s next venture will involve telemedicine through Hollings Cancer Center and the Coastal Cancer Control Program (CCCP). In collaboration with MUSC’s Office of Continuing Medical Education (CME), the DDC plans to provide information about online CME programs through their website at <http://www.ddc.musc.edu>.