Conference Report: 37th Conference of the Japan Society of Medical Electronics & Biological Engineering

The 37th Conference of The Japan Society of Medical Electronics & Biological Engineering (JSMEBE) was held on May 14-16 in Kurashiki, Okayama. The main theme of the conference was "Biomedical Engineering for Health & Well-Being" involving the consideration of a borderless situation in the relationship between medicine and welfare.

On 13 May, an open public forum was held as a pre-conference event. Dr. Guido G. Persijn, Medical Director of Eurotransplant International Foundation gave us an intriguing talk entitled "State of the art concerning euthanasia in The Netherlands: in the year 1998", while Prof. Tatsuo Togawa of Tokyo Medical and Dental University introduced medical high technology for the 'ageing society.'

On 14 May (the first day of the Conference), a wide range of ordinary sessions and organised sessions commenced. On the same day, the chairman's lecture on the ME -initiative from Okayama- was given by Prof. Fumihiko Kajiya who pointed out the collaboration between domestic and international BME laboratories. An invited lecture on 'Emergency Medicine and ME' was given by Dr. Shigeru Suganami, chair of AMDA-International (Association of Medical Doctors of Asia), emphasising the importance of a mutual understanding in promoting international medical cooperations and encouraging support with BME technology.

On 15 May, an international multimedia open forum was held by connecting Prof. Niilo Saranummi in Finland and Prof. Dov Jaron in the USA via a teleconference system. On the floor, Prof. Maciej Nalecz of Poland, Prof. Akira Kamiya the past President of the Japanese MEBE society, Prof. Hirohide Matsuo, President of the Japan Society of Ultrasonics in Medicine, Prof. Kouzaburo Hayashi, President of the Third World Congress on Biomechanics, and others joined in discussing international collaboration in ME.

On 14-16 May, two symposia on (i) atherosclerosis - microstructure of blood flow and localisation - and (ii) ultramicro bioimaging and handling were held as well as 14 organised sessions on:

  1. Front line of telemedicine
  2. Physiome Project
  3. Endoscope and ME
  4. Progress in ME therapy
  5. Application of synchrotron radiation to medicine
  6. Measurement and control of biomagnetics
  7. Biorheology and thrombosis
  8. Development and commercialisation of health equipment
  9. Organ-specificity of microcirculation
  10. Effective ME education
  11. Cardiovascular angiogenesis mechanism on molecular level
  12. Myocardial mechanics and coronary circulation
  13. Measurement and analysis of motion, perception, fatigue by multi-dimensional information
  14. Artificial organs as health and welfare equipment.

These sessions were aimed at focusing our discussion in each specific field.

On 16 May, two satellite symposia on clinical engineering and multimedia for in-home care were organised by working groups.

A reception party was held at Kurashiki Tivoli Park on 15 May. More than 500 people attended to enjoy reunions with old friends and cultivate new friendships.

In this conference, we had 1281 participants and 632 papers (organised sessions: 138, ordinary sessions: 494). The autumn conference will be held in Niigata on 6-7 November 1998, and the next annual conference in Sendai, Miyagi on 21-23 April, 1999.

Seiichi Mochizuki, Yasuo Ogasawara, and Fumihiko Kajiya

Department of Medical Engineering, Kawasaki Medical School, Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan

Email: kajiya@me.kawasaki-m.ac.jp