Impact on Healthcare Systems through 5G

Dec 12, 2019

Sateesh

blog

0

Introduction:

5G or fifth-generation mobile communication network is not only about high-speed data rates and better connectivity services, but rather it aims to move into the non-conventional areas such as agriculture, health and automotive and integrate each of them in the communication network.

This extended outreach of the fifth-generation network is due to the additional usage scenarios which have been incorporated (or due to the pathway laid out for the evolution of the technology) apart from the usual refinements in the network parameter aspects.

 Keywords: 5G Healthcare, Robotic surgery, Telemedicine, eHealth, mHealth, Remote patient monitoring, Telehealth, Remote health, etc.

5G towards modern health:

5G can bring a paradigm shift to healthcare, powered by remote healthcare and rapid progress in emergency diagnosis techniques shortly.

Future medical services with 5G:

Future medical services which can be facilitated or enhanced by 5G as identified by Dolcera includes:

  1. Wearables:
    1. 5G will allow not only high-speed transfers of big data but will also be able to do it with ultra-low latency
    2. IoT & 4G have already made wearable a popular choice with shipments expected to be 222.3 million in 2021[1]
  2. Robotic surgeries:
    1. With 5G technology, surgeons could potentially perform surgeries remotely across-the-globe that are impossible today.
    2. The estimated potential for this market is driving medical device companies to invest heavily in medical robotic systems.
    3. Few active deals from big players include:
      • Medtronic acquisition of Mazor Robotics, a developer of spine surgery guidance systems [2]
      • Johnson & Johnson also made a $3.4 billion deal to acquire Auris [3]
  1. Remote patient monitoring:
    1. Remote patient monitoring services using video conferencing in case of emergency services. This is used to get opinions of the specialist without traversing the physical distance.
    2. The global remote patient monitoring market size was $703 million in 2015 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.0% to reach $2,130 million [4]
  2. Telemedicine
    1. With 5G, healthcare systems can enable mobile networks to handle telemedicine appointments, which can greatly increase the reach of the program.
    2. The telemedicine market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.5% from 2017 to 2023. Telemedicine will need a network that can support real-time high-quality video [5].

5G Specialties for the healthcare industry:

With the advent of massive devices connectivity, ultra-reliable data transfer, with low latency and better coverage area, etc. in 5G (Shown in Figure.1), can deeply impact the remote healthcare and emergency medical services which are a bottleneck in the healthcare industry.

Figure.1 5G Specialties

5G healthcare

Healthcare at the heart of 5G Network:

5G Network Requirements for the healthcare industries can be viewed in Figure 2.

Figure.2 5G Network Requirements for the Healthcare Industries

5G netwok requirements

One of the key aspects of 5G technology is to provide ultra-reliability (Ultra-reliable) (1 in billion bits) along with a latency order of one millisecond. The latency and reliability stem from the fact that the actions of the machine need to be coordinated in real-time, else a wrong incision or a cut on a wound, or damage to critical organs is very likely to occur.

One additional important aspect that is to be kept in mind is the security aspect. Medical identity theft, invasion of health privacy, and medical data management will become more challenging as massively increased numbers of devices and greater usage of virtualization and the cloud will mean a broader, more varied cyber-attack surface.

5G Healthcare Value chain:

The lists of companies identified by Dolcera which are part of the 5G healthcare system are provided in Figure.3 below:

Figure.3 5G in Healthcare- Value chain

 5G healthcare valuechain

 

3GPP Activity:

Communication service requirements for critical medical applications are being discussed in 3GPP meetings. Work items that provide normative requirements to enable a 3GPP system and to adequately provide the connectivity between medical devices and critical medical applications identified in TR 22.826

Table 1: 3GPP Specs [6]

Impacted existing TS/TR
TS/TR No. Description of change Target completion plenary#
TR 22.826 Study on Communication Services for Critical Medical Applications

 

 
TS 22.104 Service requirements for cyber-physical control applications in vertical domains (includes robotic surgery as one of the verticals) SA#86

 

 

 

Table 2: 5G Healthcare TDocs

Philips, Nokia, B-Com, and others are the companies that are participating in 3GPP meetings and contributing to TDocs. These TDocs are mainly focused on tele-surgeries, health, QoS requirements.

T-Doc Number Title Organization
S1‑190139 Healthcare use cases for FS_REFEC Philips International B.V.
S1‑190053 FS_CMED – Robotic Aided Surgery for Wireless Operating Rooms B-Com, Orange

 

S1‑190058 QoS Requirement for Robotic Telesurgery FUJITSU
S1‑190105 FS_CMED cleanup of Augmented Reality Assisted Surgery Nokia

  

IP Study:

  • IP related to 5G healthcare including 5G IoT, URLLC, Remote patient monitoring is on the rise. Dolcera PCS based study on the patent filing activity is shown in figure 4 and the major players are shown in figure 5. Progressive patent filing activity indicates decent growth in the near future too.

 Table 3: Example Patents

 

Patent Number

Title Assignee Technology Details
US20190246370A1 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DATA TRANSPORT CONTROL BETWEEN WIRELESS NETWORK SYSTEMS Samsung  

The present disclosure relates to a communication method and system for converting a 5th-Generation (5G) communication system for supporting higher data rates beyond a 4th-Generation (4G) system with a technology for Internet of Things (IoT). The present disclosure may be applied to intelligent services based on the 5G communication technology and the IoT-related technology, such as smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car, connected car, health care, digital education, smart retail, security, and safety services.

 

CN110495222A User Equipment and Method Panasonic  

Today, the connection between the mankind is self-evident, and the emphasis is placed on that interconnection is mechanical or equipment.3GPP is in the future 5G NR cellular system in provide 1ms within up to 10-5 Reliability letter be used as a target. Ultra-high reliability so and low prolongs Late communication (URLLC) for key business service (vehicle communication, industrial automation, health care, public safety) perhaps More MTC applications are required functions.

 

CN108737223A Health consultation method, apparatus, platform, and storage medium based on load balancing Kangmei Pharmaceutical Co Ltd  

A kind of health consultation method based on load balancing, for connecting client terminal and doctor’s end by health consultation platform End, and the communication between the client terminal and doctor terminal to accessing health consultation platform controls

the health consultation method according to claim 1 based on load balancing, it is characterized in that the access way is In cable network, 4G wireless networks, 5G wireless networks, GPRS wireless networks, WIFI wireless networks, and ZigBee wireless networks It is one or more…

 

CN109243605A A kind of phrenoblabia diagnoses and treatment system based on artificial intelligence Duan Xin  

A kind of phrenoblabia diagnoses and treatment system based on artificial intelligence according to claim 1, it is characterized in that: institute It states patient’s end system, therapist’s end system and intelligent assistance system and data interaction is carried out by 5G network or 6G network.

 

CN109525275A

 

Based on 5G technology to the method for health data collection processing transmission in conjunction with sensor Youfener Tech Co Ltd The invention discloses the methods transmitted in conjunction with sensor to health data collection processing based on 5G technology, and including the signal relay system communicated for 5G, the relay system includes the first receiving antenna, the first low noise amplification module and the first transmitting antenna

 

Figure.4 IP Filing Trend

filingtrend 5g healthcare

Search Date 10-Dec-2019; Search Coverage: Worldwide countries, Search Concepts: Robotic surgery, Telemedicine, ehealth, mhealth, Remote patient monitoring, Telehealth, Remote health

 

Figure.5 IP Top Players

assignee 5G healthcare

Search Date 10-Dec-2019; Search Coverage: Worldwide countries, Search Concepts: Robotic surgery, Telemedicine, eHealth, mhealth, Remote patient monitoring, Telehealth, Remote health

5G healthcare sector shows that patent filing activity is being actively persuaded by an agglomeration of industries including telecom and network infrastructure, pharmaceutical, medical equipment manufacturers, etc.

  • Potential IP activity found from the telecom and network infrastructure providing companies in the healthcare sector to meet high real-time traffic demand with emerging 5G mobile networks.
  • Samsung, Qualcomm, LG, Medtronic, Huawei are some of the active filing companies.
  • Key IP filing areas include: Telemedicine, Remote or Tele-surgeries, and Remote patient management

Conclusion

Through 5G networks, the healthcare system will improve the quality of care and patient experience, reduce the expenses of healthcare, and more such benefits. 5G is helping companies operating at different points of the value chain to partner, vertically integrate, & make financial deals with each other. A clear increase in demonstrations & trials of URLLC shows that the healthcare use cases will continue to innovate and expand.3GPP activity from companies Philips, Orange, B-com, etc. towards 5G healthcare indicates future technological progress. Qualcomm, Samsung, LG Corp, Huawei, Philips, Medtronic, etc. are some of the top filing IP companies in 5G healthcare.

 

Authors: Abdul Hafeez, Modassir Bashir, Sateesh Thippirisetti, Naga Manoj and Ashish Jha

References

[1]. Wearables shipments to hit 222.3 million units by 2021: IDC

[2]. Mazor Robotics acquired by Medtronic

[3]. Johnson & Johnson Announces Completion of Acquisition of Auris Health, Inc

[4]. Remote Patient Monitoring Market by Condition

[5]. Global telemedicine market to experience a 16.5% annual growth rate through 2023

[6]. 3GPP TDocs (written contributions) at meetings (SA#85)

Leave a Reply