Radar Technology for a Static Diagnostic Tool and for Functional Assessment of Joint Motion |
Medical Need
The most used diagnostic tool for medical bone and joint visualization is ionizing radiation (x-ray imaging). Although relevant effort has been made to reduce the amount of radiation for compilation of pictures the radiation is still carcinogen. Other modalities like MRI are free of ionizing radiation with good image quality, but need an extensive technical support, perform only static images and cannot be used in everyday diagnostics. Ultrasound on the other hand has the possibility to assess functional aspects but is primarily used for soft tissue evaluation and has a wide intra-observer imprecision. These limitations of established image modalities necessitate a new kind of diagnostic tool, save for the patient and usable as a day-to-day application like x-ray.
The goal of the project is the development and pre-clinical testing of a microwave joint imaging system. The system will be capable of imaging and assessing motion and different joint configurations. The system will be validated in a standardized bio-mechanical test set-up.
Microwave, radar, skeletal imaging, motion analysis