Kompendium 2020 Forschung & Klinik

TOP-Studien
65
Development of a New
Electronic Navigation System
Development of an electronic navigation system for elimination
of examiner-dependent factors in the ultrasound screening for
developmental dysplasia of the hip in newborns: The presented
paper demonstrates an innovative problem solution to improve
the quality of sonographic hip dysplasia screening, which is
established in the mother-child-pass screening program. It was
developed based on scientific preliminary work at the Medical
University of Vienna.
„Compared to established aids such as
positioning aids for the baby (cradles)
and mechanical transducer guiding
devices, the main advantage of the
presented system is the accurate
detection of the pelvic position.“
Alexander Kolb
Sonography of the infant hip, according to Graf, is the gold standard for early
diagnosis of hip dysplasia 1 . Despite this standardization, examinerdependent
influences on the measurement results have been repeatedly
discussed 2,3 , with tilt of the transducer position in relation to the hip joint
(tilt error) being of importance 4 . In addition to structured training of the
examiners, the aforementioned tilt errors were addressed in particular by
aids such as a positioning aid for the baby (cradle) and a mechanical transducer
guiding device („Sono Guide“ according to Graf). The importance of
these tilt errors was demonstrated using an opto-electronic motion capture
system to capture the transducer position 4 . However, one limitation of the
opto-electronic system is due to its sensor size, making it impossible to capture
the pelvic/hip position of the baby. Thus, analogous to the mechanical
transducer guiding device („Sono Guide“), a defined transducer orientation is
achievable, but the pelvic/hip position remains an uncertainty factor.
Study:
Kolb A, Chiari C, Schreiner M,
Heisinger S, Willegger M, Rettl
G, Windhager R. Development
of an electronic navigation
system for elimination of
examiner-dependent factors
in the ultrasound screening for
developmental dysplasia of
the hip in newborns. Sci Rep.
2020 Oct 2;10(1):16407.
The aim of this work is the development of a new electronic navigation system,
which is able to detect both pelvic/hip position and transducer position,
and thus contributes to the minimization of examiner-dependent influences
in the sense of relative transducer tilts.
Materials and Methods
A novel electronic navigation system was used to quantify relative tilts
between the pelvis and the transducer (tilt errors) as part of the Graf sonographic
hip dysplasia screening 5,6 : This system consists of two spatial
position sensors, with one sensor fixed to the transducer and the second
sensor epicutaneously attached centrally dorsally over the os sacrum (see
Figure 1). The two sensors are each composed of an accelerometer, a gyroscope
and a magnetometer. Software calculates the relative tilt between the
pelvis and the transducer at three angles (in the frontal, axial, and sagittal
planes) and displays it visually as a navigation aid for the examiner 6 . For
each of the children examined, a sonogram was prepared without the aid of