Tele-auscultation support system with mixed reality navigation.

The aim of this research is to develop an information support system for tele-auscultation. In auscultation, a doctor requires to understand condition of applying a stethoscope, in addition to auscultatory sounds. The proposed system includes intuitive navigation system of stethoscope operation, in addition to conventional audio streaming system of auscultatory sounds and conventional video conferencing system for telecommunication. Mixed reality technology is applied for intuitive navigation of the stethoscope. Information, such as position, contact condition and breath, is overlaid on a view of the patient's chest. The contact condition of the stethoscope is measured by e-textile contact sensors. The breath is measured by a band type breath sensor. In a simulated tele-auscultation experiment, the stethoscope with the contact sensors and the breath sensor were evaluated. The results show that the presentation of the contact condition was not understandable enough for navigating the stethoscope handling. The time series of the breath phases was usable for the remote doctor to understand the breath condition of the patient.

[PPI treatment for gastric ulcer patients in the elderly].

Proton pump inhibitor (PPI) is an effective and safe medication for the elderly people for the treatment of peptic ulcer disease. However, some PPIs have been reported that they have metabolic interactions with some drugs. Therefore, drug-interactions should be considered when the PPI is prescribed to the elderly people. The number of NSAIDs ulcer patients is thought to increase along with the increase of those who take NSAIDs in the elderly. Although PPI is indispensable for the prevention of the NSAIDs ulcer, PPI has not obtained authorization for the purpose of prevention in Japan. PPIs are strongly expected to be approved for prevention of NSAIDs ulcer by the Japanese government in the near future.

[Gastroenterological endoscopic findings in alcoholic liver disease patients--comparison of daily drinkers at physical check up].

We compared findings of alcoholic liver disease patients used by gastroenterological endoscopes (31 patients hospitalized in Hyogo Prefectural Amagasaki Hospital: AA group, and 156 patients hospitalized in Suma Red Cross Hospital: AL group) with physical checkup patients (48 daily drinkers: A group, and 99 non drinkers: C group). Esophageal varices were seen by the majority of AA group, and the frequencies of esophageal cancers were also high in the gullet changed to morbid state. Although these things were seen AL group, there were few as compared with AA group. Moreover, frequencies of esophagitises in AL group were higher than C group (p < 0.05), though it was the same level in C group and AA group. In a strange stomach trouble, as for AL and A group, there were a lot of gastric erosions compared with C group (p < 0.05). However, AL group compared with the other groups, the gastric polyps were few (especially C group, p < 0.01). In the duodenum, changing to a morbid state, ulcers were high frequency (5/31) in AA group compared with the other groups (p < 0.05). Moreover AA and AL groups had a lot of polyps high frequency compared with C group (p < 0.05), and duodenitises were high frequencies in AL group compared with A and C group (p < 0.05, p < 0.01). It seemed stronger that the digestive organs changing to morbid state was tendency depended on alcohol consumption and the influence of smoking was not able to be disregarded.