3D system helps patients with epilepsy
The technology has been tested for over a year at a German hospital.
“Our 3D system can extract body movement trajectories a lot faster than the 2D system used previously and, combined with the EEG, it offers more quantitative information for the physician to diagnose and decide on the most suitable treatment for the patients”, explains João Paulo Cunha, coordinator of the Centre for Biomedical Engineering Research (C-BER), of the Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science (INESC TEC), who is in charge of the project.
According to a press release from INESC TEC, the system does not require any reflectors or sensors to be attached to the patient’s body, or any intervention on the bed where the patient is being monitored. This is possible because the system combines high definition video with a high speed infrared radar to obtain thirty 3D images per second. Because this system is affordable, it has the potential to be deployed in multiple epilepsy units around the world, even in developing countries.
The technology, developed in partnership with the universities of Aveiro, Munich and the Munich University of Technology, is being used in Munich (Germany), at a medical centre serving 8 million people in this area of neurology alone.
The work developed by the Portuguese team has been recently published in the journal PLoS ONE.
