Using an IR Camera to Assess the Effectiveness of Back Treatment

描述（由申请人提供）：本I期SBIR旨在确定使用定量热成像法确定神经根症状患者脊柱卸载的临床效果的可行性。将对具有神经根症状和相关背痛的患者进行卸载治疗，同时使用红外（IR）图像、表面温度和皮肤血流变化（使用激光多普勒测量）进行记录。这些测试寻求建立使用基于微测辐射热计的IR成像来分析卸载治疗的有效性的可行性。图像处理软件将用于量化皮肤温度的区域变化。将使用LTX 3000（tm）腰椎康复系统进行脊柱卸载。在第二阶段，我们将完成该系统的开发，并测试便携式，低成本的定量热成像系统的临床效用，用于接受脊柱卸载治疗的患者的连续成像。第二阶段的目标是应用这种方法作为一种新颖的和负担得起的结果分析工具。下背痛是工业化国家的一个主要社会经济问题。在美国，它是工人缺勤的第二大原因，但在生产力损失方面却是最昂贵的。近80%的成年人在一生中的某个时候经历过腰痛。2许多人在20岁出头时经历了第一次腰痛，当一个人接近60岁出头时，腰痛变得更加常见。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This phase I SBIR seeks to establish the feasibility of using quantitative thermography to identify the clinical effects of spinal unloading in patients with radicular symptoms. Unloading therapy will be performed in patients with radicular symptoms and associated back pain while concurrently recording using infared (IR) images, surface temperatures and changes in cutaneous blood flow (using Laser Doppler measurements). These tests seek establish the feasibility of using microbolometer based IR imaging to analyze the effectiveness of the unloading therapy. Image processing software will be used to quantifying of regional changes in cutaneous temperature. Spinal unloading will be done using the LTX 3000(tm) Lumbar Rehabilitation System. In phase II, we will complete the development of the system and test the clinical utility of a portable, low-cost quantitative thermography system to be used for serial imaging of a patient receiving spinal unloading therapy. The phase II goal is to apply this approach as a novel and affordable outcome analysis tool. Low back pain is a major socioeconomic problem in the industrialized world. In the United States, it is the second leading cause of worker absenteeism, yet the most expensive in terms of lost productivity. Nearly 80% of all adults experience low back pain at some time in their lives.2 Many people experience their first episode of low back pain in their early twenties, and it becomes more common as a person approaches his/her early sixties.