Abstract
Ultrasound is a cost-effective, readily available, and non-ionizing modality for musculoskeletal imaging. Though some research groups have pursued methods that involve submerging the transducer and imaged body segment into a water bath, many limitations remain in regards to acquiring an unloaded volumetric image of an entire human limb in a fast, safe, and adequately accurate manner. A 3D dataset of a limb is useful in several rehabilitative applications including biomechanical modeling of soft tissue, prosthetic socket design, monitoring muscle condition and disease progression, bone health, and orthopedic surgery. This paper builds on previous work from our group and presents the design, prototyping, and preliminary testing of a novel multi-modal imaging system for rapidly acquiring volumetric ultrasound imagery of human limbs, with a particular focus on residual limbs for improved prosthesis design. Our system employs a mechanized water tank setup to scan a limb with a clinical ultrasound transducer and 3D optical imagery to track motion during a scan. The iterative closest point algorithm is utilized to compensate for motion and stitch the images into a final dataset. The results show preliminary 2D and 3D imaging of both a tissue-mimicking phantom and residual limbs. A volumetric error compares the ultrasound image data obtained to a previous MRI method. The results indicate potential for future clinical implementation. Concepts presented in this paper could reasonably transfer to other imaging applications such as acoustic tomography, where motion artifact may distort image reconstruction.
Highlights
It is reported that 57% of persons with transtibial amputation suffer from moderate to severe pain when wearing a prosthetic limb [1]
We present a novel ultrasound imaging system along with associated preliminary results of a tissue-mimicking phantom and residual limbs
Though magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has its own limitations related to cost and requirements for a specialized imaging facility, it was chosen for our preliminary comparative studies here since it has been effective for the purposes of modeling the residuum for prosthetic socket design and does not present the same radiation concerns [5], [33], [34]
Summary
It is reported that 57% of persons with transtibial amputation suffer from moderate to severe pain when wearing a prosthetic limb [1]. Improper fit of the prosthetic socket, the cup-like interface connecting residual limb to the remainder of the prosthesis, can lead to several pain-causing pathologies including neuromas, inflammation, soft tissue calcifications, and pressure sores [2]. The current standard for prosthetic socket fabrication is plaster casting, a mostly subjective process performed by a prosthetist. Though this artisanal method can be effective in some instances, it is expensive, time consuming, and often requires several iterations in order to achieve a desirable fit. A quantitative, reproducible, and data-driven procedure for socket creation could have substantial clinical impact [3]
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