Using an IR Camera to Assess the Effectiveness of Back Treatment

描述(由申请人提供)：这一阶段的SBIR试图确定使用定量热像仪来确定脊椎卸载对有神经根性症状的患者的临床效果的可行性。对于有神经根性症状和相关背痛的患者，将进行卸载治疗，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。这些测试试图确定使用基于微测辐射热计的红外成像来分析卸载治疗效果的可行性。图像处理软件将用于量化皮肤温度的区域变化。脊柱卸载将使用LTX 3000(Tm)腰椎康复系统进行。在第二阶段，我们将完成系统的开发，并测试便携式、低成本定量温度成像系统的临床实用价值，该系统将用于对接受脊柱卸载治疗的患者进行连续成像。第二阶段的目标是将这一方法作为一种新的、负担得起的成果分析工具加以应用。在工业化国家，腰痛是一个主要的社会经济问题。在美国，这是工人缺勤的第二大原因，但就生产率损失而言，这是代价最高的。近80%的成年人在生活中的某个时候经历过下腰痛。2许多人在20岁出头时经历了第一次下腰痛，随着一个人接近60岁出头，这种情况变得更加常见。

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.