Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

A systematic review on design technology and application of polycentric prosthetic knee in amputee rehabilitation
The objective of this paper is to conduct a systematic review on design technology and clinical application of polycentric prosthetic knee joint in the rehabilitation of trans-femoral amputees. Relevant studies were identified using electronic database such as PubMed, EMBASE, SCOPUS and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (Rehabilitation and Related Therapies) up to February 2020. Screening of abstracts and application of inclusion and exclusion criteria were made. Design, modeling, material use, kinematic study, simulation technique and clinical application of polycentric knee models used in many developed and develop...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - July 7, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

EEG based emotion recognition using minimum spanning tree
In this study, changes in minimum spanning tree (MST) structure of brain functional connectome were used for emotion classification based on EEG data and the obtained results were employed for interpretation about the most informative frequency content of emotional states. For estimation of interaction between different brain regions, several connectivity metrics were applied and interactions were calculated in different frequency bands. Subsequently, the MST graph was extracted from the functional connectivity matrix and its features were used for emotion recognition. The results showed that the accuracy of the proposed m...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - July 6, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Investigation of thermal aspects of high-speed drilling of bone by theoretical and experimental approaches
AbstractHeat generation during bone drilling operations is a serious challenge for the internal fixation surgery of bone fracture. Indeed, the heat generated at the drilling site causes complications including local temperature rise, thermal necrosis, irreversible damages to the bone tissue, and possible failure of orthopedic surgery. High-speed machining is an advanced method which has achieved remarkable results in some cases of reducing the temperature rise of the tool or workpiece. The present research examines high-speed drilling (HSD) of the bone using theoretical (based on Orthogonal Cutting theory and High-Speed Cu...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - July 6, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Total body irradiation in Australia and New Zealand: results of a practice survey
AbstractTotal body irradiation (TBI) is an important treatment modality for the preparation of patients for bone marrow transplants. It is technically challenging and the actual delivery may vary from clinic to clinic. Knowledge of the pattern of practice may be helpful for clinics to determine future practice. We carried out an email survey from April to September 2019 sending 48 TBI related questions to all radiotherapy clinics in Australia and New Zealand via the Australasian College of Physical Scientists in Medicine email distribution list. Centres not performing TBI were not expected to complete the survey and centre...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - July 1, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Path planning of the viscoelastic micro biological particle to minimize path length and particle ’s deformation using genetic algorithm
AbstractManipulation of biological particles including pulling, and holding-and-indenting them, using the atomic force microscope (AFM) has attracted enormous interests. High deformability and vulnerability of biological particles, especially cells, make moving toward the target point inside complex biological environments with the least invasion the most critical factor. In this article, the optimal path of the particle movement is determined by considering the mechanical and morphological properties of the biological cell. Furthermore, the shortest path with the least amount of cell deformation is determined by using the...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - June 30, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Truncated inception net: COVID-19 outbreak screening using chest X-rays
AbstractSince December 2019, the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused world-wide turmoil in a short period of time, and the infection, caused by SARS-CoV-2, is spreading rapidly. AI-driven tools are used to identify Coronavirus outbreaks as well as forecast their nature of spread, where imaging techniques are widely used, such as CT scans and chest X-rays (CXRs). In this paper, motivated by the fact that X-ray imaging systems are more prevalent and cheaper than CT scan systems, a deep learning-based Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model, which we call Truncated Inception Net, is proposed to screen COVID-19...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - June 25, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

A review of stereotactic body radiotherapy for the spine
AbstractRadiation therapy of the spine, as recourse for spinal tumours, is an effective method of achieving pain reduction and local control. Hypofractionated techniques like stereotactic body radiation therapy and especially stereotactic radiosurgery are quickly becoming more popular as studies are published demonstrating their superior outcomes. This review concerns aspects of spinal radiotherapy of interest to the clinical medical physicist, with a focus on stereotactic techniques. The literature surveyed is mostly from the last two decades, concentrating particularly on studies from the last few years. Clinical aspects...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - June 25, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Automated segmentation of optic disc using statistical region merging and morphological operations
AbstractAccurate Optic Disc (OD) segmentation is vital in designing systems that aid the diagnosis and evaluation of early phases of retinal diseases. However, in many images, the OD boundary is ambiguous, which makes the automated OD segmentation process very challenging. A method to segment OD based on statistical region merging and morphological operations is proposed in this paper. The proposed method is tested on standard databases MESSIDOR, DIARETDB1, DIARETDB0, and DRIONS-DB. The average overlap ratios are found to be 91.35% for DIARETDB1 images, 88.80% for DRIONS-DB images, 86.60% for DIARETDB0 images and 89.68% fo...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - June 18, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

An assessment of the ExacTrac intrafraction imaging capabilities for flattening filter free prostate stereotactic body radiotherapy
AbstractThe uncertainties associated with image matching using the ExacTrac ® system (BrainLab, Munich, Germany) have been the subject of investigation in the literature for extra-cranial sites. However, the uncertainties involved in the use of ExacTrac in the presence of higher scatter conditions like that for intrafraction imaging of prostate stereotactic radiotherapy ut ilising unflattened beams is yet to be determined. A prostate phantom was created with 3 implanted gold fiducial markers. This phantom was shifted by 1 mm and 2 mm amounts in the translational planes and by 1° and 2° amounts in the rotational...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - June 18, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

A computer aided diagnostic method for the evaluation of type II diabetes mellitus in facial thermograms
AbstractAlmost 50% of individuals around the globe are unaware of diabetes and its complications. So, an early screening of diabetes is very important at this current situation. To overcome the difficulties such as pain and discomfort to the subjects obtained from the biochemical diagnostic procedures; an infrared thermography is the diagnostic technique which measures the skin surface temperature noninvasively. Thus, the aim of our proposed study was to evaluate the type II diabetes in facial thermograms and to develop a computer aided diagnosis (CAD) system to classify the normal and diabetes. The facial thermograms (n &...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - June 10, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Collection and analysis of photon beam data for Varian C-series linear accelerators: a potential reference beam data set
This study aimed to collect and analyze photon beam data for the Varian C-series linear accelerators (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA, USA). We evaluated the potential of the average data to be used as reference beam data for the radiotherapy treatment planning system commissioning verification. We collected 20 data sets for 4 and 6 MV photon beams, and 40 data sets for a 10 MV photon beam generated by the Varian C-series machines, which contained the percent depth dose (PDD), off-center ratio (OCR), and output factor (OPF) from 20 institutions. The average for each of the data types was calculated across the 20 mach...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - June 8, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Evaluation of metal artefact techniques with same contrast scale for different commercially available dual-energy computed tomography scanners
AbstractThe aim of our study is to evaluate the metal artefact reduction techniques with the same contrast scale for different vendors ’ dual-energy CT (DECT): kV-CT image with metal artefact reduction method and monoenergetic CT image using Canon’s DECT, and monoenergetic CT image with metal artefact reduction method using GE’s DECT. The kV-CT image and DECT scans were performed with the water-based polymethyl methacrylate p hantom with various metal materials (brass, aluminium, copper, stainless steel, steel, lead, and titanium). Two types of metal artefact reduction (MAR) algorithm with the monoenerget...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - June 1, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Detection and analysis: driver state with electrocardiogram (ECG)
AbstractDriver drowsiness, fatigue and inattentiveness are the major causes of road accidents, which lead to sudden death, injury, high fatalities and economic losses. Physiological signals provides information about the internal functioning of human body and thereby provides accurate, reliable and robust information on the driver ’s state. In this work, we detect and analyse driver’s state by monitoring their physiological (ECG) information. ECG is a non-invasive signal that can read the heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV). Filters are applied on the ECG data and 13 statistically significant features a...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - June 1, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Book review: Advanced Radiation Protection Dosimetry edited by Shaheen A. Dewji and Nolan E. Hertel
(Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine)
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - June 1, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Ensemble of transfer learnt classifiers for recognition of cardiovascular tissues from histological images
(Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine)
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - June 1, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Winning images from the Photography in Medical Physics (PiMP) competition
(Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine)
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - May 28, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Characteristics of inverse gamma histograms
AbstractThis work explores the characteristics of the inverse gamma histogram and its potential use as part of the patient specific quality assurance (PSQA) program for volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT). ArcCheck measured dose files and TPS predicted dose files were imported and analysed using the in-house inverse gamma code developed in the Python package. Inverse gamma with fixed distance-to-agreement of 2  mm were calculated for 23 VMAT arcs. Dose difference histograms were plotted for six arbitrarily selected arcs with the 95th and 90th percentile values calculated. Dose difference histograms enabled visuali...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - May 27, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

The current status of medical physicist certification program in Iran, compared to Turkey, China, Japan, UK, and USA
(Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine)
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - May 25, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Gaussian mixture model based clustering of Manual muscle testing grades using surface Electromyogram signals
AbstractMuscle strength testing has long been an important assessment procedure in rehabilitation setups, though the subjectivity and standardization of this procedure has been widely debated. To address this issue, this study involves the use of Electromyogram (EMG) features that are intuitively related to muscle strength to classify  Manual muscle testing (MMT) grades of ‘4 −’, ‘4’, ‘4 + ’ and ‘5’ of the Medical Research Council scale. MMT was performed on Tibialis anterior muscle of 50 healthy participants whose MMT grades and EMG we...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - May 19, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

A dosimetric comparison of flattening filter free and conventional VMAT treatments for some common cancer sites
This study seeks to extend previous work by others to the Elekta Agility VMAT treatments commonly used at our clinic. Nine matched pairs of conventional and FFF 6X treatment plans for prostate, head and neck, and brain cancer sites were generated using the Monaco treatment planning system (Elekta AB, Stockholm, Sweden). Absorbed dose distribution statistics for target and healthy tissue volumes reported by the Monaco treatment planning system were compared. One matched pair of plans for each cancer site was experimentally validated by film and ion chamber measurements in an anthropomorphic phantom. Head leakage was measure...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - May 14, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Effect of table height displacement and patient center deviation on size-specific dose estimates calculated from computed tomography localizer radiographs
AbstractThe aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of table height displacement and patient center deviation along the$$z$$-axis on size-specific dose estimate (SSDE) calculations based on computed tomography (CT) localizer radiographs in pediatric and adult abdominal CT examinations. CT localizer radiographs and CT axial images were acquired with table heights of  − 5.0, − 2.5, 0.0 (center), 2.5, and 5.0 cm using two acrylic self-made phantoms filled with water. Water-equivalent diameters ($${D}_{\mathrm{w}}$$) were calculated from the CT localizer radiographs and CT axial...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - May 6, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Automatic snoring sounds detection from sleep sounds based on deep learning
AbstractSnoring is a typical characteristic of obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) and can be used for its diagnosis. The purpose of this paper is to develop an automatic snoring detection algorithm for classifying snore and non-snore sound segments, which have been segmented from a whole-night sleep sound signal using a spectral entropy method, based on convolutional neural network (CNN) descriptors extracted from audio maps. For each sound segment, the time-domain waveform, spectrum, spectrogram, Mel-spectrogram and CQT-spectrogram are calculated. Two classifiers are applied to classify sound segments into ...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - May 6, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Validating the clinical use of Breathe Well, a novel breathe monitoring device
AbstractRespiratory motion management has become increasingly important in the accurate delivery of radiotherapy. Recently, a novel device, Breathe Well, has been developed, which provides motion management by tracking the movement of external surrogates. This paper has comprehensively assessed the measurement accuracy of Breathe Well in various clinical conditions. The results suggest that the Breathe Well device has good reproducibility, although it demonstrates larger measurement errors in certain setup positions. However, this measurement error becomes trivial if it is setup consistently over the entire course of treat...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - May 4, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Comparison of three ultrasonographic examinations on the synovial membrane vascularity of RA patients
AbstractRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease involving multiple joints and often involves the small joints, and the lesions are symmetric, invasive, and disabling. Synovial blood flow in patients with RA was compared using color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI), power Doppler ultrasound (PDUS), and superb microvascular imaging (SMI) to determine the application value of SMI in synovial vasospasm of knee joints. The blood flow signals of the suprapatellar recess in the knee joints of 41 RA patients (49 knees) were measured prior to undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA), recorded, and graded by CDFI, PDUS...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - May 1, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Crosstalk in surface electromyogram: literature review and some insights
AbstractSurface electromyogram (EMG) has a relatively large pick-up volume, reflecting the activity of muscle tissue placed quite far from the electrodes. This could be beneficial when the global muscle activity is of interest, but it is a limitation when selective information is needed. The EMG from muscles that are neighbors of the one of interest is called crosstalk. Its interpretation, identification, quantification and removal have been the objectives of many works in the literature. However, it is still considered as an open problem, with effects that are difficult to predict. In this paper, the problem of crosstalk ...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - May 1, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Recognition of cardiac abnormalities from synchronized ECG and PCG signals
AbstractPhonocardiogram signals (PCG) and electrocardiogram signals (PCG) have been used separately for decades to diagnose heart abnormalities. Combining these two synchronous signals is expected to enhance the diagnosis for better medical management of patients. This paper's objective is to highlight the performance comparison between the diagnosis of heart abnormalities based only on PCG recordings and that based on synchronized PCG and ECG recordings. For evaluating the classification results, we have used the ROC curve and four performance measures: Accuracy, Area Under Curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity. (Sour...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - April 28, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Analysing the effect of wearable lift-assist vest in squat lifting task using back muscle EMG data and musculoskeletal model
AbstractThe most common disorders of the musculoskeletal system are low back disorders. They cause significant direct and indirect costs to different societies especially in lifting occupations. To reduce the risk of low back disorders, mechanical lifting aids have been used to decrease low back muscle forces. But there are very few direct ways to calculate muscle forces and examine the effect of personal lift-assist devices, so biomechanical models ought to be used to examine the quality of these devices for assisting back muscles in lifting tasks. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of a designed wearable ...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - April 28, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

The effect of megavoltage field size on intrafraction cone-beam CT image quality
AbstractTo investigate the effects of scatter from a megavoltage treatment beam on intrafraction cone beam CT (CBCT) image quality. The effects of treatment beam field size and phantom geometry were investigated as well as the clinical success of IFI. Intrafraction imaging (IFI) was performed on four phantoms with four different MV field sizes using a 6 MV FFF source. The image quality of the intrafraction CBCT images was compared to that of a baseline CBCT (i.e. with no treatment beam on) and quantified using noise and low contrast visibility. Increasing the kV tube current was explored as a possible method to reduce nois...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - April 24, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Quasi-simultaneous 3D printing of muscle-, lung- and bone-equivalent media: a proof-of-concept study
Abstract3D printing is a promising solution for the production of bespoke phantoms and phantom components, for radiotherapy dosimetry and quality assurance (QA) purposes. This proof-of-concept study investigated the use of a dual-head printer to deposit two different filaments (polylactic acid (PLA) and StoneFil PLA-concrete (Formfutura BV, Nijmegen, Netherlands)) at several different in-fill densities, to achieve quasi-simultaneous 3D printing of muscle-, lung- and bone-equivalent media. A Raise 3D Pro 3D printer (Raise 3D Technologies Inc, Irvine, USA) was used to print one thoracic and one cranial phantom slab. Analysis...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - April 20, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

COVID-19 pandemic planning: considerations for radiation oncology medical physics
(Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine)
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - April 13, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Monte Carlo calculated output correction factors for Gafchromic EBT3 film for relative dosimetry in small stereotactic radiosurgery fields
AbstractTo calculate small field output correction factors,$${k}_{{Q}_{clin},{Q}_{msr}}^{{f}_{clin},{f}_{msr}}$$, for Gafchromic EBT3 film using Monte Carlo simulations. These factors were determined for a Novalis Trilogy linear accelerator equipped with Brainlab circular cones with diameters of 4.0 to 30.0  mm. The BEAMnrc Monte Carlo code was used to simulate the Novalis Trilogy linear accelerator and the Brainlab cones with diameters 4.0 to 30 mm. The DOSXYZnrc code was used to simulate Gafchromic EBT3 film with the atomic composition specified by the manufacturer. Small field correction factors w ere calculat...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - April 11, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

A novel extrapolation method using OSL detectors for very small field output factor measurement for stereotactic radiosurgery
AbstractAppropriate methods for the determination of very small X-ray beam output factors are essential to ensure correct clinical outcomes for stereotactic radiosurgery. To date, substantial work has been performed in identifying and quantifying suitable dosimeters for relative output factor (ROF) measurements including recent IAEA published recommendations. In this work, we provide a novel method using optically stimulated luminescent dosimeters (OSLDs) with different effective sizes of the readout area to determine ROFs. This involves applying an extrapolation technique to assess ROFs for 6MV SRS X-ray beams with field ...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - April 8, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Stereotactic ablative body radiation therapy (SABR) in NSW
The objective of the survey was to generate baseline data to inform requirements for a networked approach to the implementation of new radiation therapy techniques and technologies. All radiation therapy services in NSW were contacted by email with a request to complete a SABR service survey. Questions were designed to identify equipment used, treatment techniques in place, clinical sites treated with a SABR technique and plans to expand the current services offered. Each professional group was asked to identify areas of service delivery they would most like to improve. Sixteen responses were received representing 24 of 27...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - April 7, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Covid-19: automatic detection from X-ray images utilizing transfer learning with convolutional neural networks
In this study, a dataset of X-ray images from patients with common bacterial pneumonia, confirmed Covid-19 disease, and normal incidents, was utilized for the automatic detection of the Coronavirus  disease. The aim of the study is to evaluate the performance of state-of-the-art convolutional neural network architectures proposed over the recent years for medical image classification. Specifically, the procedure called Transfer Learning was adopted. With transfer learning, the detection of v arious abnormalities in small medical image datasets is an achievable target, often yielding remarkable results. The datase...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - April 3, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Cloud-based ECG monitoring using event-driven ECG acquisition and machine learning techniques
AbstractAn approach is proposed for the detection of chronic heart disorders from the electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. It utilizes an intelligent event-driven ECG signal acquisition system to achieve a real-time compression and effective signal processing and transmission. The experimental results show that grace of event-driven nature an overall 2.6 times compression and bandwidth utilization gain is attained by the suggested solution compared to the counter classical methods. It results in a significant reduction in the complexity and execution time of the post denoising, features extraction and classification processes....
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - April 1, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Diagnosis using non-linear univariate and multivariate EEG measurements: a preliminary study
In this study we propose two classification algorithms for discriminating ADHD children from normal children using their resting state Electroencephalography (EEG) signals. One algorithm is based on the univariate features extracted from individual EEG recording channels and the other is based on the multivariate features extracted from brain lobes. We focused on entropy measures as non-linear univariate and multivariate features. Average power, Theta/Beta Ratio (TBR), Shannon Entropy (ShanEn), Sample Entropy (SampEn), Dispersion Entropy (DispEn) and Multiscale SampEn (MSE) were extracted as linear and non-linear univariat...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - March 27, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Assessing the fit of 3D printed bolus from CT, optical scanner and photogrammetry methods
This study quantitatively compares the fits of boluses designed from different imaging modalities. A head phantom was imaged using three systems: a CT simulator, a 3D optical scanner, and an interchangeable lens camera. Nose boluses were designed and 3D printed from each modality. A 3D printed phantom with air gaps of known thicknesses was used to calibrate mean HU to measure air gaps of unknown thickness and assess the fit of each bolus on the head phantom. The bolus created from the optical scanner data resulted in the best fit, with a mean air gap of 0.16  mm. Smoothing of the CT bolus resulted in a more clinically...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - March 23, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Quantitative evaluation of the effect of changes in effective energy on the image quality in X-ray computed tomography
In this study, using two CT scanners with the same geometric specifications and detector configurations, we quantitatively assessed the reduction in image noise accompanying the increase in effective energy. We also clarified the fluctuations in CT number. For both CT scanners, the effective energy, the standard deviation (SD) of the noise image when using two water phantoms with diameters of 240  mm and 320 mm, and CT numbers of the sensitometry module were measured. Further, the dose required to obtain the same image noise level in each CT scanner was calculated. The effective energy difference was 5.5 keV...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - March 16, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Comparison of physical image qualities and artifact indices for head computed tomography in the axial and helical scan modes
This study aimed to validate the clinically demonstrated equivalency of the axial and helical scan modes (AS and HS, respectively) for head computed tomography (CT) using physical image quality measures and artifact indices (AIs). Two 64-row multi-detector row CT systems (CT-A and CT-B) were used for comparing AS and HSs with detector rows of 64 and 32. The modulation transfer function (MTF), noise power spectrum (NPS), and slice sensitivity profile were measured using a CT dose index corresponding to clinical use. The system performance function (SPF) was calculated as MTF2/NPS. The AI of streak artifacts in the skull bas...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - March 5, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

The effects of scattered radiation from a semitransparent edge on MTF measurement: verification of several factors by Monte Carlo simulation
In this study, we focus on the effects of scattered radiation from the edge on MTF measurement. The edge enhancement effect confirmed by a previous study is verified using Monte Carlo simulation; influences on the MTF due to air gaps and scattered radiation from objects are investigated. This effect by scattered radiation from an edge is also confirmed in our simulation. The results show that as air gaps change, the effect on the MTF also changes; that is, as air gaps increase, the MTF peak shifts to lower spatial frequencies. When scatter is introduced by adding an object, the MTF obtained using a semitransparent edge in ...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - March 4, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Automated heart sound classification system from unsegmented phonocardiogram (PCG) using deep neural network
AbstractGiven the patient to doctor ratio of 50,000:1 in low income and middle-income countries, there is a need for automated heart sound classification system that can screen the Phonocardiogram (PCG) records in real-time. This paper proposes deep neural network architectures such as a one-dimensional convolutional neural network (1D-CNN) and Feed-forward Neural Network (F-NN) for the classification of unsegmented phonocardiogram (PCG) signal. The research paper aims to automate the feature engineering and feature selection process used in the analysis of the PCG signal. The original PCG signal is down-sampled at 500 &nb...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - February 11, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Patient selection for proton therapy: a radiobiological fuzzy Markov model incorporating robust plan analysis
AbstractWhile proton therapy can offer increased sparing of healthy tissue compared with X-ray therapy, it can be difficult to predict whether a benefit can be expected for an individual patient. Predictive modelling may aid in this respect. However, the predictions of these models can be affected by uncertainties in radiobiological model parameters and in planned dose. The aim of this work is to present a Markov model that incorporates these uncertainties to compare clinical outcomes for individualised proton and X-ray therapy treatments. A time-inhomogeneous fuzzy Markov model was developed which estimates the response o...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - February 10, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Professor Barry Allen ’s deep footprints in space, time and spirit
(Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine)
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - February 4, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Prediction of fracture risk of a distal femur reconstructed with bone cement: QCSRA, FEA, and in-vitro cadaver tests
AbstractLack of quantitative, biomechanical criteria to predict the risk of fracture for a bone affected by giant cell tumor (GCT) has made the decision for the necessary surgical technique a dilemma. The purpose of this study is to critically assess the usefulness of quantitative computed tomography (QCT) based structural rigidity analysis (QCSRA) and QCT-based finite element analysis (FEA) in predicting the fracture risk for long bones reconstructed with bone cement. QCSRA, QCT-based FEA, and in-vitro mechanical tests on five pairs of cadaveric distal femora were employed to quantitatively assess the compressive failure ...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - February 3, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Correction to: EPSM 2019, Engineering and Physical Sciences in Medicine
The authors of abstract P038 Clinical quality assurance of 3D printed patient specific radiotherapy devices should be listed as: P H Charles1,2,3, A G Livingstone4, T Kairn2,4, S B Crowe1,2 (Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine)
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - January 31, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Quantification of radiation and imaging isocenter coincidence of a multi-room PBS proton therapy system
AbstractAlignment between the radiation isocenter and imaging isocenter is critical to ensure accurate proton dose deposition in the patient. The purpose of the current study is to perform a comprehensive evaluation of the coincidence (planar kV X-rays vs. pencil proton beam) among three, beam-matched pencil beam scanning (PBS) gantries of a ProteusPLUS proton therapy system. For proton radiation isocenter measurement, a cone-shaped scintillator detector, XRV-124, was utilized. To test the impact of gantry angle on the beam coincidence, measurements at 12 different gantry angles were performed in the study. Additionally, t...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - January 27, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Quantification of radiation and imaging isocenter coincidence of a multi-room PBS proton therapy system
AbstractAlignment between the radiation isocenter and imaging isocenter is critical to ensure accurate proton dose deposition in the patient. The purpose of the current study is to perform a comprehensive evaluation of the coincidence (planar kV X-rays vs. pencil proton beam) among three, beam-matched pencil beam scanning (PBS) gantries of a ProteusPLUS proton therapy system. For proton radiation isocenter measurement, a cone-shaped scintillator detector, XRV-124, was utilized. To test the impact of gantry angle on the beam coincidence, measurements at 12 different gantry angles were performed in the study. Additionally, t...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - January 27, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Winning images from the Photography in Medical Physics (PiMP) competition
(Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine)
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - January 27, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Relative dosimetry measurements in kilovoltage X-rays with OSLDs
AbstractDosimetry for kilovoltage X-ray units requires a careful choice of equipment due a typically high energy dependence of standard detectors. The use of optically stimulated luminescence detectors (OSLDs) for in-vivo dosimetry and the measurement of relative output factors is investigated in this study. Supralinearity and the suitability of OSLDs for relative dose measurements are determined for the Landauer nanoDot OSLD system (Landauer, Inc., Greenwood, IL). OSLDs were found to exhibit supralinearity for therapeutic doses in kV X-rays, with the effect more pronounced in lower energy beams. Relative lead cutout facto...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - January 21, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research

Patient data hiding into ECG signal using watermarking in transform domain
AbstractElectrocardiogram (ECG) watermarking provides secure communication of patient information lies in a 1D- ECG signal. The primary challenge in ECG watermarking is the deterioration of an ECG signal which causes the loss and impotence to extract patient information. This paper proposes a wavelet method based watermarking scheme for patient information hiding in the ECG as a QR image. Here, we first convert the 1D-ECG signal to 2D-ECG image using the Pan –Tompkins algorithm. We use a wavelet transform to decompose 2D-ECG image. Wavelet analysis can capture the subtle underlying information of the ECG. Then we fur...
Source: Australasian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine - January 21, 2020 Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research