A recent field test conducted by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the University of Yamanashi and the Information Technology Center of the University of Tokyo might point the way for the future of telemedicine.
They conducted a field test of an ophthalmology telemedicine system developed by the University of Yamanashi where an eye doctor at the university examined a subject at the University of Tokyo, miles away, in real time.
According to TechOn, the terminal device used by the doctor and a remote-controlled microscope were connected via the “ JGN2plus,” a testbed network environment managed by Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology. Researchers used the “ Eye-view Robo,” a slit-lamp microscope that can be remotely controlled.
A slit-lamp microscope is an ophthalmic diagnostic device for examining a patient’s eye by using a slit light. The Eye-view Robo enables a doctor to operate a slit-lamp microscope located in a remote place in real time by using a terminal device connected to the microscope via a network: “With a CCD camera embedded in the slit-lamp microscope, the images seen by the microscope are transmitted to the terminal device in real time,” TechOn reported.
The journal explained that “many of the existing ophthalmology telemedicine systems connect eye doctors via a network so that the microscope images obtained by an eye doctor can be sent to another doctor for diagnosis. However, with such systems, it is difficult to take an image that the second doctor wants to have for diagnosis. The Eye-view Robo can solve this problem because it enables the second doctor to control the microscope and take images.”
It’ s not even necessary to have an eye doctor at the medical institution where the Eye-view Robo is installed, Tech On said, adding that “ researchers aim to disseminate it in the regions where there is a shortage of eye doctors.”
Earlier this week TMC
reported that The California Department of Corrections has used telemedicine, a rapidly developing application of clinical medicine where medical information is transferred through the phone or via Internet to treat adult prisoners. And a result saved the state $13 million last year, largely by reducing transportation and security costs.
The state been using telemedicine to treat inmates for about ten years, relying on it to “facilitate consultations with medical specialists,”
according to HealthLeaders Media. The state provides about 16,000 telemedicine visits with doctors in 22 specialty fields through the use of $20,000 camera systems purchased for each institution.
Edited by
Marisa Torrieri
