Computational 3D Modelling of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS)

Background

Scoliosis is a 3D musculoskeletal disorder of the spine that affects the quality of life and physical ability of patients. Almost 80% of all cases comprise of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) with an estimated prevalence of 36 million new patients worldwide by 2050. The drawback of current diagnostic methods in AIS assessment is their harmful effect, especially due to the multiple radiographic exposures required for monitoring disease progression. A new generation of optical techniques for estimating curvature of the spine and evaluating deformity-related changes from a 3D digitalized surface of the patient’s back are considered as an alternative to ionizing methods. However, none of these non-ionizing approaches have been applied to calculate the internal parameters of AIS and neglect the 3D complexity of the internal spinal structure..

Goal

This project aims to develop and test a markerless computer-aided optical solution (ScolioSIM1.0) that can generate a 3D model of the patient-specific scoliotic spine, and to reliably calculate biomechanical characteristics and parameters of AIS without exposing patients to ionizing radiation.

Method

This process includes the development of a novel computational algorithm for online monitoring of AIS after treatment and regular follow-ups (ScolioSIM2.0) and its integration into the first multi-modular web-based platform (ScolioMedIS). Finally, models were compared with standard radiographic images in clinical settings.