NTT and Niigata University begin joint research to establish remote palpation technology for telemedicine

NTT and Niigata University have launched joint research aimed at achieving remote palpation to address the social issues of physician shortages and regional disparities. The project will continue until March 31 next year.

Japan's healthcare system faces serious challenges with physician shortages and concentration in urban areas. Rural and depopulated areas particularly struggle to secure adequate physicians, resulting in insufficient provision of necessary medical services. According to the physician distribution index by prefecture published by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Niigata Prefecture ranks third nationally in physician shortages, making both the enhancement of regional healthcare and the reduction of physician burden, urgent issues.

As one approach to solving these challenges, telemedicine using videoconferencing and web conferencing systems for real-time audiovisual information is becoming increasingly widespread to continue providing medical services.

However, there are noted limitations to telemedicine conducted solely through audiovisual information. In actual face-to-face treatment at medical treatment centers, palpation is routinely performed alongside visual inspection and auscultation, but current telemedicine is unable to include it. Furthermore, the introduction of large-scale systems for this purpose involves cost issues and operational and learning burdens, raising concerns about the difficulty of deploying them to many rural areas and small-scale medical facilities.

Given these circumstances, this joint research focuses on lower limb edema and aims to observe and record in detail the palpation processes conducted at medical sites, clarify the technical and operational requirements necessary for remote implementation, and establish methods for acquiring and reproducing tactile sensations to transmit them to remote locations.

The research focuses on palpation techniques for lower limb edema performed at medical sites, with joint efforts between Professor Sayuri Sakai's laboratory at the School of Health Sciences Faculty of Medicine at Niigata University, and NTT. Using mock patients, they will record palpation by healthcare professionals using various sensors and devices, analyzing and elucidating the characteristic movements that are the key points of palpation, such as hand and finger movements and pressure application.

When digitalizing such movements and appropriately transmitting them to remote locations, they will consider approaches that minimize mechanization and automation while leveraging methods for healthcare professionals to perform direct palpation, taking into account both cost considerations and the psychological burden on patients.

Furthermore, NTT has been assessing methods for acquiring the softness of palpated areas through human hands and methods for reproducing the softness of affected areas at remote locations using uniquely developed devices that recreate tactile sensations by arranging pins in an array to vary resistance during compression. By incorporating feedback from professionals at medical sites, they will evaluate the usefulness of and improve the accuracy of the above-mentioned methods.

In this joint research, Niigata University will be responsible for collection of knowledge and data on palpation techniques, data analysis, and evaluation of tactile acquisition and reproduction methods. NTT will handle the construction of palpation technique recording systems, collection of palpation technique data, data analysis, and development of tactile acquisition and reproduction methods.

Both parties plan to improve accuracy in methods aimed at establishing remote palpation technology and verify operational feasibility at medical sites through demonstration experiments involving NTT Group companies. Furthermore, they will promote the social implementation of remote palpation technology while progressively advancing medical device certification for various sensors and devices.