2022-05-19

UTT project

Project name:

The UTT project  (UTT = ultrasound transmission tomography) was initiated by a team of scientists from the Wrocław University of Technology and the Dramiński company.

Project history:

We got in touch with Dramiński S.A.  at the  2018 MEDICA trade fair.

After the initial consultation, it turned out that the company has some substantial competences when it comes to the design and production of experimental ultrasound probes  and electronics, yet their resources and experience in the visualization and processing of 3D medical data is limited. We offered our service in the field of software development for processing and visualization of data acquired during a UTT examination.

We discussed the details of this cooperation in Olsztyn and with prof. Krzysztof Opieliński in Wrocław. The professor was responsible for the software requirements.

Objectives and subject of the project:

The project focuses on creating an application for collecting and processing data from the source, i.e. innovative ultrasound tomography scanner. It enables automatic water background determination, skin tissue segmentation, and 3D and 2D visualization of various imaging modes.

The main goal of the product development is to create a functional, integrated examination device, the effectiveness of which will be more attractive than ordinary ultrasound or mammography, available and confirmed by clinical trials.

In addition, the basic assumptions (apart from meeting the technical requirements) are:

  • usability (ergonomics)
  • stability
  • speed wise optimized code

Current stage of the project:

The stage in this project is that the examination is performed using a prototype scanner device. Next, the data is saved to a file and then transferred to a workstation where it is analyzed with our software.

Further stages of the project:

Research is planned and carried out on a selected group of patients in order to collect data and adjust data processing algorithms to achieve better quality of the generated images and to develop a method of determining “suspicious” areas in the breast, so that the analysis becomes a reliable basis for the doctor’s decision on where to direct further diagnostics (biopsy, additional imaging tests, e.g. MRI)

Ultimately, it is planned to automate the examination process as far as possible. The challenges that should be focused on in the future are the extension of automation to all stages of the process, obtaining patient / patient databases, statistical analysis and programming of measurements. We also work on overall imaging quality improvement as well as on applying AI techniques as computer assisted diagnosis (CAD).

The designed process would look like this:

  1. Preparation for examination, equipment check – done
  2. Conducting the examination: entering the patient’s data, start – partially developed
  3. Data transfer from the device to the database – to be performed
  4. Loading data on a workstation from a database – to be processed by Cybermedics
  5. 2D and 3D data visualization – done
  6. Measurements of distance, surface area, etc., etc. – to be developed
  7. determining the boundaries of structures (water, skin) – done
  8. Marking the detected changes with a marker on the basis of a statistical model and  to be developed
  9. Applying AI to improve overall imaging and diagnosis outcome – to be developed

Summary

The result of the work is a product in the research and development phase, with the main participation of Cybermedics. The next steps are the implementation of research findings and software development towards the final product.