The Development of an Abdominal Palpation Monitoring System for Real-Time Display of Palpation Sites and Pressure in Kampo Medicine

摘要

Introduction: Kampo Medicine as it exists in Japan makes extensive use of a unique abdominal palpation technique known as Fukushin, whereby the practitioner applies pressure at specific abdominal sites. This is a difficult technique to teach in medical education. To make instruction more effective, we developed a system to track the exact locations and measure the pressure as a doctor performs abdominal palpation and displays it visually in real time. Materials and methods: In a model of a male abdomen we installed 14 sensors, with a view to transmitting the information from the sensors in real time via our custom software to a display attached to a Windows PC system. Results and Discussion: It proved possible to satisfactorily display the real-time data of the sites palpated and the pressure applied. Conclusion: By communicating effectively where an expert practitioner of abdominal palpation applies pressure to a patient's abdomen together with the pressure applied, we consider that medical education in Kampo medicine will be improved. Furthermore, we expect this system to contribute to the standardization of diagnosis in Kampo medicine.