Augmented reality-based software (Echo-QR) for guiding the echographic probe toward the acoustic window: a pilot study

TL;DR

A new augmented reality software called Echo-QR helps non-experts correctly position an ultrasound probe without expert guidance, improving diagnostic imaging in remote settings.

Contribution

Echo-QR is a novel augmented reality software that enables novice operators to independently locate ultrasound probes over correct acoustic windows.

Findings

Novice operators successfully located the probe over 92% of the acoustic windows using Echo-QR.

3D volume capture improved diagnostic image quality, achieving 85% usability for medical evaluation when 2D images were insufficient.

Abstract

With current technology, ultrasound imaging in remote conditions, such as the International Space Station, is performed with vocal guidance or using a teleoperated echograph controlled by an expert. Both methods require real-time communications between the novice operator and expert to locate the probe over the appropriate acoustic windows (AW). The current study presents the development and testing of a new augmented reality software (Echo-QR) that would allow novice operators (with no medical imaging background) to correctly locate the ultrasound probe over the AW of interest without expert assistance.

On the first day of the study, the positions of the probe over the AWs were identified for each organ by an expert sonographer and saved in the Echo-QR software. On the second day, the novices independently performed the ultrasound investigation using the Echo-QR software to correctly position the probe over each organ’s AW.

Using the Echo-QR software, novice operators found the AW in 73 (92%) of the 79 organs. The 2D images acquired by the novices “2D direct image” were acceptable for medical evaluation in 41% of the cases. However, when the “2D direct image” did not show the entire organ, a 3D capture of the volume below the probe was also performed, which allowed for the extraction of the appropriate 2D image “2D/3D image” for medical evaluation in 85% of the cases.

Therefore, in the absence of real-time communication between an isolated participant and an expert sonographer, novel software (Echo-QR) and automated 3D volume capture can be used to obtain images usable for ultrasound diagnostics.

Figures