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PhotoMEDAS valorisation as a medical device for infants' cranial deformation

PROGRAME: Valorisation and transfer of research to companies.

Line 1. Valorisation, transfer and exploitation of R&D results by companies.

Agencia Valenciana de Innovación (AVI): INNVA1/2022/53.

Progress has been made in the development of the PhotoMeDAS solution, which facilitates three-dimensional (3D) scanning and helps diagnose cranial deformations in infants in an objective, non-invasive, easy, fast and accurate manner. This requires a smartphone on Android or iOS, a coded cap that is placed on the patient's head that acts as an accessory, and a server where the scanned data are processed, displayed and managed.

PhotoMeDAS has the peculiarity that the data is scanned on a smartphone using an app that guides the user, without the patient necessarily having to remain static during the scanning. The recorded and scanned patient information does not include images; it is sent to a server where it is processed in real time, and the results are sent to medical staff. The process is non-invasive, and the entire process takes around 10 minutes, adding the scanning time and data processing, depending on the server used; with a powerful server, processing is around 2 minutes. Therefore, the client-server mobile app makes it easier for doctors to issue a clinical diagnosis during the medical consultation. The results include the 3D model of the patient's head and an anthropometric report detailing the cranial deformation indices from which doctors can better diagnose and monitor the evolution of the patient's shape and volume in the consultation itself, without having to return to the hospital or health centre.

PhotoMeDAS has been proposed as a true alternative to the manual procedure using a craniometer and tape measure traditionally implemented in the consultation, to the hand-held or static 3D scanner, and as a complement to radiological tests, such as computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) when required; worth mentioning is that CT uses ionizing radiation and MRI requires sedation. Without forgetting that it is also a relatively inexpensive alternative to precise and non-invasive 3D reconstruction systems that use combinations of scanners and cameras, but due to their very high cost, they are hardly used in regular clinical practice.

PhotoMeDAS has been carried out satisfying the set of processes, procedures and other documentation necessary to carry out the CE marking, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/745 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2017 on medical devices, as a class IIa medical device.

Members of the Photogrammetry and Laser Scanning Research Group (GIFLE) participated as exhibitors at MEDICA 2023 and FIME 2024, where they contacted potential clients internationally.

The contribution of the project partners and the contracted entities has been considered fundamental, both in the normative and regulatory part (ITI), optimization and refactoring of the software (SmartWay Studio), clinical (IISLaFe), and research clinic with the medical product (Effice s.p.i.). A thousand thanks to all of them.

Access PhotoMeDAS to join the community of users who use it.

Related publications:

Combining machine learning and close-range photogrammetry for infant’s head 3D measurement: A smartphone-based solution.

Barbero-García, I., Pierdicca, R., Paolanti, M., Felicetti, A., Lerma, J. L., 2021. Measurement, 182, 109686.

Fully automatic smartphone-based photogrammetric 3D modelling of infant’s heads for cranial deformation analysis.

Barbero-García, I., Lerma, J.L., Mora-Navarro, G., 2020. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 166: 268-277.

Smartphone-based photogrammetric 3D modelling assessment by comparison with radiological medical imaging for cranial deformation analysis.

Barbero-García, I., Lerma, J.L., Miranda, P., Marqués-Mateu, Á., 2019. Measurement, 131: 372-379.

Smartphone-based close-range photogrammetric assessment of spherical objects.

Barbero-García, I., Cabrelles, M., Lerma, J.L., Marqués-Mateu, Á., 2018. The Photogrammetric Record, 33(162): 283-299.

Smartphone-based video for 3D modelling: Application to infant’s cranial deformation analysis.

Lerma, J.L., Barbero-García, I., Marqués-Mateu, Á., Miranda, P., 2018. Measurement, 116: 299-306.

3D photogrammetry in the characterization of deformational plagiocephaly in infants.

Miranda Lloret, P., Garrido García, P., Lerma, J.L., Barbero, I., Plaza Ramirez, E., Alberola, A., 2017. Neurocirugía, 28(Espec Congr): 146.

Syndromic craniosynostosis: photogrammetric evaluation and suturectomy at very early age.

Miranda Lloret, P., Garrido García, P., Lerma, J.L., Barbero, I., Plaza Ramirez, E., Alberola, A., 2017. Neurocirugía, 28(Espec Congr): 394.

Analysis of repeatability on videogrammetry for infants’ cranial deformation.

Barbero-García, I., Lerma, J.L., Marqués-Mateu, Á., Miranda, P., 2017. In: Primer Congreso en Ingeniería Geomática-CIGeo. Martín Furones, Á. (Ed.). Universitat Politècnica de València (pp. 15-19). Julio 5-6, Valencia, Spain.

Low-cost smartphone-based photogrammetry for the analysis of cranial deformation in infants.

Barbero-García, I., Lerma, J.L., Marqués-Mateu, Á., Miranda, P., 2017. World Neurosurgery, 102: 545-554.