The present and future of telemedicine in Japan

Telemedicine has always developed in close relation with communication tech nology. When only aural telephones were used, several experiments of teleme dicine were carried out by utilizing telephone lines. When INS64 (ISDN with 64 kbits) and telecommunication satellites came onto the scene, experiment s for telemedicine began to be conducted accordingly using the cutting-edge technology of the time. In this paper, one of the three categories of tele medicine, mainly tele-consultation that includes tele-pathology and tele-ra diology, will be discussed with some examples conducted in Japan. as time g oes on, the aim of telemedicine has also been changing. In 1996, the Japane se government Save the go ahead for telemedicine along its deregulation pol icies. Telemedicine including tele-home care in the 21st century will use t he Internet and digital HDTV (high-definition TV) technology for informatio n and data management interchangeably both at domestic and global levels in the medical environment. Also, our dream of a hyper-hospital or virtual ho spital will be realized in cyberspace before long, but first we may have to overcome several tough problems such as the protection of privacy data, ma lpractice and vulnerability of technology relevant to the Internet and tele communications satellite system as a whole. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Irela nd Ltd. All rights reserved.