Closing the Last Mile Gap in Access to Multimodality Imaging in Rural Settings: Design of the Imaging Core of the Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal Study

Circ Cardiovasc Imaging. 2024 Feb;17(2):e015496. doi: 10.1161/CIRCIMAGING.123.015496. Epub 2024 Feb 20.ABSTRACTAchieving optimal cardiovascular health in rural populations can be challenging for several reasons including decreased access to care with limited availability of imaging modalities, specialist physicians, and other important health care team members. Therefore, innovative solutions are needed to optimize health care and address cardiovascular health disparities in rural areas. Mobile examination units can bring imaging technology to underserved or remote communities with limited access to health care services. Mobile examination units can be equipped with a wide array of assessment tools and multiple imaging modalities such as computed tomography scanning and echocardiography. The detailed structural assessment of cardiovascular and lung pathology, as well as the detection of extracardiac pathology afforded by computed tomography imaging combined with the functional and hemodynamic assessments acquired by echocardiography, yield deep phenotyping of heart and lung disease for populations historically underrepresented in epidemiological studies. Moreover, by bringing the mobile examination unit to local communities, innovative approaches are now possible including engagement with local professionals to perform these imaging assessments, thereby augmenting local expertise and experience. However, several challenges exist before mobile examination unit-based examinatio...
Source: Rural Remote Health - Category: Rural Health Authors: Source Type: research