The popular non-contact game controller originally introduced by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 console, according to experts from the Institute of Digital Healthcare, University of Warwick and the University of Birmingham, can be used to evaluate the function of external respiration patients with various respiratory diseases.
According to scientists, the diagnostic system they invented consists of four Microsoft Kinect sensors, capable of compiling a 3D image of the patient’s body in a fairly short period of time. This method, providing the opportunity to most accurately assess chest movements, will allow specialists to simplify the process of establishing a diagnosis.
The motion sensor developed by the Redmond giant successfully passed all the necessary tests. As the scientists noted, a new method for the diagnosis of lung diseases demonstrated a measurement accuracy similar to spirometry. Spirometry is the method most commonly used to treat lung diseases, including chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, the data obtained by the spirometer do not provide doctors with additional information about chest movements, which makes the use of the game controller in medicine one of the promising areas.
According to the project manager, Dr. Chris Golby of the Institute of Digital Health, specialists were able to develop an inexpensive prototype that allows a more comprehensive assessment than other currently existing methods of measuring the patient’s breathing. Kinect also makes it possible to circumvent some of the existing limitations of spirometry, namely, the difficulties of diagnosis in patients with abnormalities of the structure of the face, muscle weakness, in children and in elderly people.
The method proposed by scientists is described in detail in the journal Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing.
“There are various diseases that cannot be detected or evaluated using spirometry: atelectasis (a decrease in the lobe of the lung), weakness of the respiratory muscles. The prototype we developed will not only help doctors simplify the diagnosis, but will also be very useful in assessing breathing changes during training, ”Dr. Golby.
A team of specialists from the University of Warwick plans to further improve its prototype by conducting research on patients with bronchopulmonary form of cystic fibrosis and other respiratory diseases.
The article is based on materials .
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