Abstract
Professional skill is required to reproduce ultrasound images of the kidney as an optimal cross-section is easily lost with slight deviation in scanning location or angle of the probe. We developed a motion-capture technique-based interface screen that displays the real-time probe position and angle to overlap those provided beforehand. When a professional operator captured the approximate kidney image, our system recorded the relative spatial relationship between the subject and the probe. Next, an amateur operator who had no experience of clinical practice manipulated the probe only with the aid of the interface until the probe position and angle coincided with the professional ones. Eventually, amateur operators could place the probe with a deviation of distance of (x = 2.7 ± 1.2 mm, y = 3.0 ± 1.7 mm, z = 6.6 ± 1.8 mm) and angle of (Rx = 1.5 ± 0.3 degrees, Ry = 2.6 ± 1.1 degrees, Rz = 1.1 ± 0.3 degrees) from the professional goal to produce very similar cross-sectional kidney images (N = 8). Also, motion-capture technique-based evaluation of relative locations of the probe and subject body revealed difficulty in reproducing those without the interface screen navigation. In summary, our motion-capture technique-based ultrasound guide system provides operators with the opportunity to handle the probe just as another operator would beforehand. This could help in medical procedures wherein the same cross-sectional image should be repeatedly obtained. Moreover, it requires no conventional probe training for beginners and could even shift the paradigm for ultrasound probe handling.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Fuyuki Oneyama for fruitful discussion. This study was supported in part by KAKENHI (18H04122) to KK.
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Supplementary file1 Video 1. The motion capture-facilitated ultrasound guide system. An amateur operator handles the ultrasound probe for right kidney scanning by looking at the interface displaying the location and angle of the probe. Eventually, the operator captures a cross-sectional image of the kidney that is nearly the same with the one the professional operator obtained earlier (MP4 22453 KB)
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Nishi, H., Mizuno, S., Fujino, K. et al. Motion-capture technique-based interface screen displaying real-time probe position and angle in kidney ultrasonography. Clin Exp Nephrol 26, 735–740 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10157-022-02213-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10157-022-02213-0