The Antarctic Joint Command (CoCoAntar), through its Health Division, implemented the Mobile Diagnostic Center (CDM) to perform remote monitoring of patients in real time and carry out remote consultations.
The climatic and geographical conditions of Antarctica require specific strategies to carry out medical diagnoses and take care of the health of the people who are working there. Hence the importance of implementing technologies such as CDM.
Soledad Rivero, head of the CoCoAntar Health Division, and also a specialist in cardiology, explained that "in an extreme context such as Antarctica, where human resources in health are very limited, we must prepare to use new technologies."
The CDM was developed by the Argentine computing company EXO and the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the National University of Rosario (UNR). Through this tool it is possible to perform 12-lead electrocardiograms, measure blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation and body temperature.
Rivero highlighted the importance of having this system: "When the patrol moves with the emergency backpack, it has elements to measure these parameters in isolation, but having everything in the same equipment greatly facilitates our work"
Thanks to the recording of vital parameters, it is possible to care for patients who have suffered from cardiac arrhythmia to bleeding or hemodynamic decompensation.
Fernando González, manager of Social Responsibility and Sustainability of EXO, explained the characteristics of the CDM: "Although its operator does not have communication with the base, all this information is saved, the studies are uploaded to the cloud and the doctor can see them in the form synchronous”.
The device has been used in Antarctica since 2017 and since then it has been an important part of preventing death and health complications in army personnel and corporals, and other people involved in research work.
