SBIR Phase I: Quantitative methods for assessment of infants cranial malformations using 2D photos

这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的广泛影响/商业潜力包括使用图像分析为各种儿科健康状况的父母、临床医生和护理人员提供决策支持。在2016年最近的一项调查中，79%的母亲有兴趣尝试或学习非紧急医疗问题的远程医疗，40%拥有智能手机的人至少下载了一个健康或保健应用程序。鉴于移动医疗目前的增长潜力和家长的高度接受度，移动应用程序是弥合儿科护理差距的完美选择。在这个项目中，图像分析将用于实现实时决策支持、定制建议和低成本的技术扩展。该项目目前的重点是确定婴儿头部畸形的特征，更具体地说是平头综合征。尽管平头综合征在婴儿中是一种常见的疾病，但父母对这种疾病以及与之密切相关的其他健康疾病（如斜颈和发育迟缓）的认识却很少。通过早期识别和针对患者的重新定位建议，拟议的技术将显著降低需要强化治疗的重症病例数量，以及相关的诊断和治疗费用。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在开发算法和工具，准确计算头部形状参数，用于平头综合征的诊断和治疗计划。20-30%的婴儿在出生后的头几个月出现中度至重度平头综合征。如果不及时治疗，它会导致身体和心理上的不适，以及发育迟缓。一个定制的应用程序将获取婴儿头部的照片，评估头部的形状，然后推荐针对婴儿的重新定位指令。该应用程序将定期跟踪父母，以确保通过监测依从性和治疗进展。这些信息还将被发送到婴儿的电子健康记录中，供婴儿的儿科医生审查。开发的算法还将区分平头综合征和颅缝闭合症，后者可能导致类似的头部畸形，但可能导致更严重和永久性的健康并发症，包括大脑损伤。此外，父母通过应用程序收集的纵向数据集可用于生成婴儿的头部生长模式，从而监测发育情况，并能够早期识别婴儿的其他健康状况风险。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project includes use of image analysis to provide decision support to parents, clinicians and caregivers in various pediatric health conditions. In a recent survey in 2016, 79% of mothers were interested in trying or learning about telemedicine for non-emergency medical issues and 40% of those owning smartphones have downloaded at least one health or wellness app. Given the current growth potential of mHealth and its high acceptance by parents, a mobile app is perfectly situated to bridge the gap in pediatric care. In this project image analysis will be used to enable real-time decision support, customized recommendations, and low cost scaling up of the technology. The current focus of the project is on characterizing infant head malformations, more specifically flat head syndrome. Even though flat head syndrome is a common condition among infants, there is little awareness among parents about this condition and other health conditions closely related, e.g. torticollis, and developmental delay. Through early identification and patient-specific repositioning recommendations, the proposed technology will significantly lower the number of severe cases that need intensive therapies, and the associated diagnostic and treatment costs.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop algorithms and tools that accurately calculate head shape parameters used in diagnosis and treatment planning for flat head syndrome. Moderate to severe flat head syndrome affects 20-30% of infants in the first few months after birth. If left untreated, it can cause physical and psychological discomfort, and developmental delays. A customized app will acquire photos of the infant's head, assess the shape of the head, and then recommend infant-specific re-positioning instructions. The app will follow up with parents on a regular basis to ensure compliance and therapeutic progress through monitoring. The information will also be sent to the infant's electronic health records for review by the infant's pediatrician. The developed algorithms will also differentiate between flat head syndrome and craniosynostosis, a condition that may cause similar head malformations, but can lead to more serious and permanent health complications including damage to the brain. In addition, the longitudinal dataset, collected by parents through the app, can be used to generate an infant's head growth patterns, and thus monitor development and enable early identification of the infant's risk of other health conditions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.