2D Ultrasound Validation to Assess the Accuracy of Hip Displacement Measurement: A Phantom Study

Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2021 Nov:2021:3173-3176. doi: 10.1109/EMBC46164.2021.9630476.

Abstract

Hip displacement is a common orthopedic abnormality in children with cerebral palsy and is assessed on anteroposterior pelvic radiographs during surveillance. Repeated exposure to ionizing radiation is a major concern of cancer risks for children. Ultrasound (US) has been proposed to image the hips. The severity of hip displacement is measured by the Reimers' migration percentage (MP), which is calculated by the ratio of the femoral head distance from the acetabulum to the width of the femoral head. Methods have been published to estimate MP from the US hip images in literature; however, validation for accuracy has not been reported. This study aimed to determine the accuracy of the 2D ultrasound techniques using two 3D printed hip phantoms with known MP values. The MPs estimated from the US images were compared with those measured from the X-ray images. Based on the experimental results, the US measurements had a maximum absolute discrepancy of 2.2% as compared to 9.8% from the X-ray measurements for the MP. The study on phantoms has showed the proposed US approach is promising with better accuracy and without ionizing radiation.Clinical Relevance - If the accuracy is proved to be at least as good as the current X-ray gold standard, the proposed US method will provide a modality of choice to pediatric patients for hip displacement diagnostics and hip surveillance, especially those with cerebral palsy. The method will be free of ionizing radiation and therefore significantly improve the pediatric patient care.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acetabulum
  • Cerebral Palsy* / diagnostic imaging
  • Child
  • Hip Dislocation* / diagnostic imaging
  • Humans
  • Radiography
  • Ultrasonography