Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Recent advances in ultrasound (US) technology have great potential to benefit medical diagnostics, especially in underfunded healthcare centers. In this context, affordable and portable US probes have become increasingly popular. However, despite the advantages of US, its use is mainly limited to radiologists and obstetricians due to various usability issues. This restricts access for non-specialist healthcare providers and contributes to longer waiting times for exams, especially in regions lacking expertise. With over 7 million Canadians residing far from major academic hospitals, there's a pressing need to enhance point-of-care ultrasound technology and make advanced care accessible to the entire Canadian population. The long-term objectives of this research program are to enhance the accessibility and usability of US technology, making it more cost-effective and intuitive for healthcare facilities in rural and remote areas. In our short-term objectives we propose to develop markerless tracking methods for accurate US volume reconstruction, to enhance US interpretation through image segmentation and visualization and to build mobile augmented reality methods to improve hand-eye coordination efficiency during US exams. This initiative aims to enable the integration of US in emerging medical applications, improve the quality of medical care, and promote widespread access to advanced healthcare services for all Canadian citizens.