title: [Telemedicine and telescience in the field of ophthalmology at Asahikawa Medical College].
abstract: Department of Ophthalmology at Asahikawa Medical University has established a video conferencing telemedicine network system between the department and each branch hospital in Japan to transmit full-motion (30 frames/second) color ophthalmological images since October 1994. Nowadays, the department has 15 branches to communicate with our system including one hospital in Fukushima Prefecture; Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School in USA; Nanjing Medical University in China with the use of INS net 1500 or INS net 64 (3 lines). This system is aimed for telemedicine, telescience as well as supports for ophthalmological surgeries. In this article, we described the present status and future prospective of our telemedicine project for the purpose of the elimination of areas without enough medical facilities and promotion of international scientific collaboration. We also described our "Telemedicine Center" at Asahikawa Medical University which is now under construction. We believe that this technology literally opens up the world to scientific and medical collaboration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Asahikawa Medical College, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hirokawa
mesh_terms: D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D007391:International Cooperation; D007564:Japan; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000639:trends*; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000639:trends*