I-Corps: Early risk assessment of infant head malformations at the point-of-care

该I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力涉及为临床医生和护理人员提供移动的知情决策支持，这些儿科健康状况涉及身体畸形，如头部畸形、面部畸形、耳部畸形和/或腿部弯曲。2017年，约有2 - 3亿人拥有智能手机，平均每天使用10个不同的应用程序2-3小时。在2016年的一项调查中，79%的妈妈有兴趣尝试或学习远程医疗，以解决非紧急医疗问题，40%拥有智能手机的妈妈至少下载了一个健康或保健应用程序。据估计，到2015年，全球移动医疗（移动的医疗应用程序）的市场规模将达到110亿美元，比2017年增长5倍。新父母特别关注移动健康，早期发现和持续监测对儿科人群至关重要。考虑到移动医疗目前的增长潜力和家长的高度接受度，移动的应用程序完全可以弥合儿科护理中的健康差距。我们的方法将使用图像分析和人工智能来实现即时决策支持，定制建议和低成本扩展我们的技术。这个I-Corps项目为PediaMeetings团队提供了一个机会，可以调查一个新的移动的健康应用程序的可用性，该应用程序将使父母能够使用智能手机拍摄婴儿头部的照片，并立即分析他们的头部形状。我们证明了我们的基于图像的算法可以准确地测量颅骨指数和颅穹窿不对称指数-这两个临床参数用于诊断和计划平头综合征（FHS）的治疗。根据确定的FHS类型和严重程度，该应用程序建议婴儿特定的治疗重新定位说明，然后定期与护理人员跟进，以确保治疗期间的依从性和进展。该应用程序将把信息发送到婴儿的电子健康记录中，由儿科医生进行审查。我们还在用机器学习方法研究颅骨形状特征，以区分FHS和颅缝早闭，这是另一种导致头部畸形的疾病，但通常需要手术治疗。PediaMeiden于2018年3月提交了知识产权保护申请。该奖项反映了NSF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 I-Corps project relates to the provision of mobile and informed decision support to clinicians and caregivers in various pediatric health conditions that involve body malformations, such as head malformation, facial abnormality, ear deformity, and/or bowed legs. About 2.3 billion people owned a smartphone in 2017, using an average of 2-3 hours on 10 different apps daily. In a recent survey in 2016, 79% of moms were interested in trying or learning about telemedicine for non-emergency medical issues and 40% of those owning smartphones had downloaded at least one health or wellness app. It is estimated that the worldwide market size for mHealth--mobile medical apps-- will reach $11 billion by 2015, a five-fold increase compared to 2017. New parents are particularly involved with mHealth and early detection and continuous monitoring is of utmost importance in the pediatric population. Given the current growth potential of mHealth and its high acceptance by parents, a mobile app is perfectly situated at bridging health gaps in pediatric care. Our approach will use image analysis and artificial intelligence to enable instantaneous decision support, customized recommendations, and low cost scaling up of our technology. This I-Corps project provides the PediaMetrix team the opportunity to investigate the usability of a new mobile health app, which will enable parents to capture photographs of their infant's head using a smartphone and receive instant analysis of their head shape. We demonstrated that our image-based algorithms accurately measure the cranial index and cranial vault asymmetry index--two clinical parameters used to diagnose and plan treatment for flat head syndrome (FHS). Based on the determined FHS type and severity, the app recommends infant-specific therapeutic re-positioning instructions and then follows up with the caregiver on a regular basis to ensure compliance and progress during therapy. The app will send the information to the infant's electronic health records to be reviewed by pediatricians. We are also investigating cranial shape features with machine learning methods to distinguish between FHS and craniosynostosis, another condition that causes head malformations, but which typically requires surgical treatment. PediaMetrix filed for protection of intellectual property March 2018.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.