Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects

Orthopaedic surgeons repair broken bones and treat developmental abnormalities such as hip dysplasia. Both areas relyheavily on 2D imaging techniques that make it difficult to properly assess and measure complex 3D structures such as thepelvis or the hip joint. This makes it difficult to accurately position bone fragments and insert wires and screws to repairbroken bones in trauma or to accurately diagnose early developmental abnormalities of the hip. Current intra-operativeimaging techniques utilize radiation. This radiation exposure is of particular concern for our surgical patients as the radiationpenetrates deeper into the body and for the surgeons that are exposed consistently overtime. Ultrasound imaging (US)provides us with an alternative to using radiation but produces blurry images. This makes it difficult for computer systems toaccurately find bone or cartilage surfaces which is necessary in order for the imaging to be useful in the operating and tocreate an accurate model of the developing hip joint. Our group has had strong success in using a new technique to quicklyfind bone and cartilage surfaces in US images. Our team of engineers and surgeons will work in collaboration with a localcompany that specializes in ultrasound machines to address some important applications in pediatrics orthopaedics,including femoral and pelvic fracture repairs and dysplasia diagnosis, by building purpose-specific machines that can betested in both the lab and clinical settings. If we are successful, ultrasound will become a useful complement to intraoperativeimaging and could replace 2D ultrasound with a more reliable tool. Trauma patients will benefit from improvedaccuracy and functional outcomes while decreasing radiation exposure. Infant dysplasia diagnosis will become more reliableand will decrease under- and over-treatment. This advancement in technology would allow our commercial partner toexpand into significant new markets.