Application of 3D scanner for estimation of chest movement in scoliotic patients

Abstract

Severe spine deformities cause restrictive respiratory insufficiency due to asymmetry of the chest wall and restriction of corresponding breathing movements. An important goal of the treatment is to restore flexibility of the chest wall to improve the breathing movement pattern. To monitor the progress of the chest wall deformity and its treatment dependent changes, a tool for assessment of the chest wall movement is required. Several non-radiological techniques have been proposed, such as marker based motion capture systems and photogrammetric methods. The current project describes an application of 3D optical system, based on 4 Artec® scanners, for monitoring and mapping of the asymmetry of the chest wall movements. Captured data were used to quantify the breathing related volume differences in inspiration and expiration separately on the left and right body side and visualize their locations. Asymmetry index was calculated as a difference in volume changes between right and left body sides, divided by the total volume change. Although the advantages of the method - short time for data capturing and application - are of importance in pediatric use and make this method attractive, the inaccuracy of the volume change estimation, being more then ±13% in the best case, is unacceptable and need to be reduced.