Sun Technology and
Engineering Enable
Treatment of Critically
ill Patients in China
PALO ALTO, Calif. - During President
Clinton's visit to China, June 25, 1998, Chinese and American
doctors using
technology provided by Sun Microsystems, Inc., will perform
a
first-of-its-kind live consultation over the Internet to treat
critically ill
patients in the central Chinese city of Xi'an.
Senior U.S. officials including Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright, Secretary of Commerce William Daley, Assistant and
Deputy Secretaries of State along with six members of Congress
are expected to join Vice Governor of ShaanXi Province Mr.
Jia
Zhi Bang and Mayor of Xi'an Mr. Feng Xu Zhu and participate
in
the telemedicine event.
Using Sun technology and engineering, doctors at Xi'an Medical
University will consult with UCSF-Stanford Health Care
pediatricians at Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital
on the
diagnoses and treatment of critically ill Chinese patients.
The session, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. today (Friday, June 26
at 9:30
a.m. in Xi'an), marks the first live telemedicine link between
the
United States and China over the Internet. The project was
made
possible through support from Sun Microsystems, Inc., AT&T
Foundation, Bridge to Asia and its sponsors, and from several
Chinese medical and technical institutions, including the Institute
of
Medical Information and Peking Union Medical College.
The doctors are using SunTM computers and public domain Internet
conferencing tools from the Lawence Berkeley Laboratory and
the
University of California at Berkeley to allow for audio and
video
exchange as well as whiteboard applications, and the ability
to
interactively transmit and manipulate medical images.
A team of engineers established a link to connect the physicians
in
Xi'an to a regional center of CERNET, the China Education and
Research Network, which provides a path to the global Internet
for
users throughout China.
Dr. Robert Yung, Sun's chief technology officer for Asia, is
leading
the technical teams that are establishing the link and providing
technical support in Palo Alto and Xi'an for the telemedical
session.
"The team's main objective is to demonstrate how healthcare
professionals can take advantage of the power of the Internet
and
the network today," said Yung.
"This technology is affordable, practical, and available
in China and
other countries around the world," said Yung. "That
is why it is so
important to the medical community and the population in China.
Telemedicine has the potential to bring both domestic and
international medical expertise to patients, and at the same
time, to
reduce the time for critical diagnosis for patients in the
rural areas."
"It also can deliver medical knowledge from China to the
United
States, including rare cases not seen in America", added
Dr. Jeffrey
Smith, President, Bridge To Asia.
According to Yung, Sun plans to make the workstations available
to
Xi'an Medical University and other facilities through Bridge
to Asia
so that the schools can continue to confer with physicians
around
the globe on these cases and others. The team also hopes to
set up a
virtual emergency room, proposed by the Institute of Medical
Information and Bridge to Asia, so that cases can be sent from
rural
areas to Xi'an Medical University, where they would be transmitted
via the World Wide Web for co-consultation or diagnosis between
the medical professionals.
"Making the best decisions and achieving the best outcomes
for
patients can only happen if the right information, the medical
expertise, and the patients are brought together," said
Bruce Elder,
healthcare industry manager, Sun Microsystems."Technology
solutions, such as this one being implemented between the Xi'an
and UCSF-Stanford professionals, will be key to the future
of
healthcare delivery worldwide."
China's first use of the global Internet for medical diagnosis
came in
February 1995, when the Institute of Medical Information (IMI),
a
central information resource for the Chinese Academy of Medical
Sciences, sought help in diagnosing the case of a peasant girl.
The
IMI used the Internet to send an SOS describing the girl's
illness to
Bridge to Asia, which forwarded it to medical experts around
the
world. The case received widespread attention after the IMI
received more than 200 replies and helped save the girl's life.
Sun In China
Sun began investing in China in 1987
and has become a leader in
Internet and intranet technology that has been used to build
many
nation-wide networks, including ChinaNet, China Wide Web
(CWW) and CERNET, which links more than a thousand
educational and research institutions with overseas universities.
Sun has donated and set up ten Authorized Academic Java Campus
programs throughout China. Sun has also established five
Authorized JavaTM CenterSM service locations in China -- two
in
Beijing, two in Shang'hai and one in Tianjing. The centers
are part
of a global network operated by Sun and its allies to help
businesses
transform Java vision into business reality. They offer technology
experts, JavaTM technology consultants and industry specialists
with
extensive hands-on experience. In addition, Sun's Java
Development Center in China offers Sun and IT professionals
facilities to develop innovative Java computing solutions and
Chinese-language systems.
Sun in Healthcare
Sun is a leading computer vendor in the global healthcare market,
and a leading provider of open environment computing solutions
for
medical imaging. Sun's commitment to enterprise-wide network
computing based on open UNIX standards, its expertise in network
management and interconnectivity and its lineup of best-of-breed
technology partners make it ideally suited to answer the needs
of
the healthcare community.
Sun's high-performance workstations deliver ultra high resolution
of
medical images, to healthcare and medical imaging professionals.
About Sun Microsystems,
Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular
vision, "The Network Is The
ComputerTM," has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:
SUNW), to its position as a leading provider of high-quality
hardware, software, and services for establishing enterprise-wide
intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more
than
$9 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than
150
countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com @Macarlo, Inc. @Macarlo's Shareware & Web OS/2 Java Lobby Member
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