Artemis Lunar Program | Canada is thinking big when it comes to space telemedicine
Canada is banking on telemedicine to fulfill its obligations in the Artemis lunar program. A Montreal company could also test telemedicine software in the International Space Station this year.
Published at
“We want to create Iron Man’s Jarvis, the ultimate virtual assistant,” explains Frédéric Lemaire, CEO and co-founder of Paratus Medical. “We start with easy things like capturing data on astronauts. It’s still very manual. When you take the pressure, you have to note it in software. We will start by making all these data transfers automatic. »
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Dr Frédéric Lemaire, photographed at Charles-Le Moyne hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic, in December 2020
The goal is to have a voice assistant that will suggest medical procedures. “In a stressful situation, sometimes we waste time searching among the thousands of PDF protocols,” says Dr.r Lemaire.
Around fifteen hospitals and two helicopter ambulance companies already use software from Paratus, Adams (English acronym for “advanced medical support for astronauts”). On Earth, Adams includes drug dosages.
Telemedicine from Nunavik to space
Telemedicine is part of the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) strategy, according to astronaut David Saint-Jacques.
NASA knows that this is a Canadian strength. We know that this is a very good option for our contribution to the Artemis program.
The Dr David Saint-Jacques, astronaut
Canada invests in telemedicine because it benefits directly from it. “When I was a doctor in Nunavik, I clearly saw the importance of telemedicine. It was difficult to evacuate patients, we didn’t have all the equipment. »
The Dr Did Saint-Jacques need to practice medicine when he was aboard the Space Station for six months, in 2018-2019? “I repaired lacerations, treated a colleague who was hurt by force, and there were also skin problems. There’s a lot of humidity on the Space Station, so it’s a different kind of bacterial flora. On other missions, there have been serious infections, particularly urinary infections. »
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques during a press conference from the International Space Station, December 2018
He could have even repaired a filling. In 1978, on the Soviet space station Salyut 6a cosmonaut suffered martyrdom due to a cavity that could not be repaired in orbit. “Before, we didn’t think that we might have to do a filling in orbit. Now we have kits, I have had training. There are still quite a few dental emergencies on the space station. »
Blood tests
While in orbit in 2019, the Dr Saint-Jacques tested clothing equipped with medical sensors from the Montreal company Hexoskin, which supplies the medical research sector. He also tested blood tests from an Ontario company. “Currently, when we do a blood test in orbit, we freeze the tube and send it to be analyzed on Earth. »
In mid-January, four astronauts on the Space Station had to be evacuated for a medical emergency. The presence of an ultrasound machine was crucial to assess the severity of the problem and its urgency.
The Dr Saint-Jacques prefers not to comment on this case, but specifies that there is a lot of research on new ways of using ultrasound. “We can’t have X-rays or magnetic resonance in orbit because they are too big equipment, but we can use ultrasound better. »
An international space medicine group regularly reviews medications and procedures that should be available during missions.
The severity and frequency of the different problems are assessed. If it is frequent or serious enough, we will arrange to have a protocol, ideally to deal with it in orbit. Obviously, with a mission to Mars, the assessment would be different.
The Dr David Saint-Jacques, astronaut
These revisions recently led to keeping anticoagulants on the Space Station to treat thromboses, considered more frequent than expected. “And there is research on the microbiota to see if it could predict certain medical risks. »
The Dr Lemaire was an emergency doctor at Charles-Le Moyne hospital 12 years ago when the Paratus adventure began. “I was at the start of my career and I had a really tough case,” he says. It was a child almost in cardiac arrest. I came really close to a medication dosage error. »
This cold sweat pushed him to design a little software to help with drug dosing, which began to circulate among his colleagues. “In 2016, I put it in the App Store with 30 drugs. I still remember getting up the next day and seeing a message from a neonatal intensivist in Ohio who told me that the tool was super useful, that we should add this medication. There, we have 1,100 medications, 500 pieces of equipment and 200 protocols. »
Learn more
-
- 5 %
- Chance of an astronaut having a dental abscess on the International Space Station in a given year
source: nasa
- 1 %
- Chance that an astronaut will need a filling aboard the International Space Station in a given year
source: nasa
