R&D Information
Trial of Ultrahigh-speed Network Technologies for
Telediagnosis and Telesurgical Treatment of Fetal
DiseasesNursing and medical management of fetomaternaland neonatal patients are becoming increasingly
important in Japan, especially with the recent rapid
decline in the birth rate. Although prenatal treatment
is becoming increasingly significant, the number offetal medicine specialists in Japan is still small compared with other countries, and pregnant women withdiseased fetuses are occasionally unable to receive
adequate perinatal care and management.
In the field of telemedicine, various communications systems intended for remote medical treatment
have been developed and tested, including conventional video systems and commercial Internet-based
technologies. However, these systems are either very
expensive or too vulnerable to be used for criticalapplications due to inherent problems such as inadequate network quality and security of transmitted
medical information and the inability to provide thehigh-definition images needed for telediagnosis.
To overcome these difficulties, NTT has launched ajoint investigation with the National Center for Child
Health and Development (NCCHD) in Tokyo to create a new fetal telemedicine system that can transmit
large volumes of data with a small delay over theGEMnet2 ultrahigh-speed network. From March 1,2006 to March 31, 2007, NTT and NCCHD will test
the feasibility of transmitting digitized fetal medicalimages, including 3-dimensional (3D) ultrasound andfetoscopic images, between the USA and Japan.
Other medical institutions participating in this study
will include the Fetal Treatment Center at the University of California at San Francisco and theAdvanced Fetal Care Center at the Children’s Hospital Boston.

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The main experiments are as follows.
• Evaluation of medical image transmission(1) Evaluation of the transmission of 3D ultrasound scanner video and endoscopic images
encoded using an MPEG2 codec developed byNTT(2) Evaluation of the transmission of high-definition video based on the high-definition TV
standard• Evaluation of network technology quality(3) Examination and evaluation of network technologies to obtain the quality and confidentiality required for medical information
If these experiments are successful, they will
enable the establishment of fetal telediagnosis andtreatment technologies. NTT will be able to combine
positive experimental results with its world-leading
next-generation, ultrahigh-speed network technologies to promote greater network quality and security
and drive forward its R&D and coordination activities from a more global perspective. Connection withGÉANT (a research network backbone linking EU
member countries), for example, is expected to open
up new possibilities for collaboration with European
medical centers.
NCCHD is planning to build networks among medical centers intensively involved in advanced prenatal
diagnosis and treatment, founding a wide range offetal telemedicine fields while promoting researchwork in the USA.
For further information, please contact:
PR, Planning Division
NTT Information Sharing Laboratory Group
T. Chizuka or T. Nakamura
Phone: +81-422-59-3663
E-mail: koho@mail.rdc.ntt.co.jp

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