1) Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Saga University, Japan

2) Department of Information Science, Saga University, Japan 3) Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery,

University of  Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 

Internet-based collaboration for transferring medical

technology to developing countries

T. Katsuki(1) , M. Goto(1), K. Ihara(1), M. Shigematu(1)

Y. Hayashida(2), D. Nishantha(2)

N. Amaratunga(3), J. Weerasinghe(3)           

Cleft-2004, Nova Scotia, Canada

BackgroundInternational Support e.g. JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency)Monetary fundsProvision of materialsDispatch of experts

Dispatchof

experts

MultimediaMedical collaboration

over the Internet

Developingcountries

Health

Education

Industry

Commerce

Food

Politics

??

?

?

?

?

?Medicaltechnology

Goals of multimedia medical collaboration

Pre-Observation of patients

Post-observation of patients

Immediate support in critical medical situations

Remote lecturing

Medical CollaborationRequires …

User friendly operational interface

Functions to support medical discussions

Interactive audio communication

Real-time or quasi-real time image flow

High-quality images

Conventional methods of international communication

EmailsInternational telephony

Facsimile

Need a communication system that facilitates real-time, interactive

multimedia delivery

??

Practical realization

Department of Oral

and Maxillofacial Surgery

Saga University

Japan

Department of Oral and

Maxillofacial Surgery,University of  Peradeniya

Sri Lanka

Department of Information Science Saga University

Japan

Medical collaboratio

n

A dedicated software

Saga

Peradenia

Geographical locations..

6000k

m

Collaboration System Setup

MonitorPersonalcomputer

Key board

Head-phone

with mic

Digital Video Camcorder

3-button mouse

GUI snap-shot (Japan-side)Controlpanel Image rate

and quality control

Receive window(Sri Lankan-side image)

Shared board(accessed by both sides)

Transmit window(Japan side image)

Web-browser(presentation slide shows)

Features of the systemNo special devices are required.(Requires a video camera (any type), microphone, personal computer and access components to the Internet)

Adaptive from narrow to broadband Internet channels. (while preserving high quality quasi-real-time image and voice delivery)

Operation of software is simple and straightforward(User friendly GUI, automated controls)Provides indispensable tools to support collaboration. (shared-board, graphically pointing on the patient’simages, text chat, delivery of presentation slide shows, multi-stream session recording etc)

Functions of the software tool

Functions associated with the

Receive Window Receiving image of the patient under observation Pop-up

menu

Functions associated with the

Transmit Window Transmit image of the medical specialist

Pop-upmenu

Functions associated with the

Shared-BoardToolpalette

Circle drawn topoint a scar

High resolution patient’s image

Pop-upmenu

Conducting Remote presentations

Slide

Session Recording

This slide will changewith the new software version with two windows

Demo

Recorded clip will be replayed for 2-3 minutes

Katsuki Sensei, please kindly show us your selection of the best time slot/slots of the recorded clip for the demonstration

1. Newly devised “Multimedia telemedicine system” developed in Saga University, was applied to enhance our activities towards Sri Lanka.

2. Medical experts can remotely observe their patients with the help of local doctors, and plan properly before and after leaving for developing countries.

3. We believe this collaboration tool over the Internet is applicable and effective in areas other than telemedicine both internationally and domestically.

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

The President of Saga University

Chairperson of NetCom Saga Association

JICA….

Staff of University of Peradeniya.

THANK YOU FOR WATCHING THIS PRESENTATION

For more information please refer to ourproject homepagehttp://turkey.fu.is.saga-u.ac.jp/education/project/Collabo1.asp

URL name under consideration

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The local medical staff must be such that they are easy enough to learn and applicable on local patients without much difficulty.

A sustainable system

The equipments and the technology that are already available in the recipient country must be used as far as possible

1. Surgeons in Japan who will go to Sri Lanka for surgeries can get accustomed to there situation while being in home town.

2. While the Japanese medical experts are in Sri Lanka , they often require to contact their superiors in Japan for advice.

3. After returning to Japan, the medical personnel can observe their patients remotely and prescribe necessary treatment and advice.

4. The medical experts in Japan can use the designed tool to give educational presentations or demonstrations to local physicians in Sri Lanka .

DiscussionAdvantages using multimedia telemedicine system

Simplified structure of the multimedia collaboration system

synchronous collaboration boundary

real time audio real time audio

real time text real time text

sending image receiving image

sending imagereceiving image

Local storage Local storagesharedboard

synchronous transmission

synchronous transmission

asynchronous collaboration boundary

recorded images

recorded image

asynchronous transmission

Japan Sri-Lanka

Image and Voice transceiving

Japanese doctors discuss with Sri Lanka doctor

Sri Lanka lady with cleft lip