The aim of this study is to reduce the number of X-ray scans taken to detect fractures, by developing a bone fracture screening system. When assessing a bone injury, doctors need to decide whether the injury has resulted in a fracture or a sprain so that they can provide appropriate treatments. The current way to differentiate between these is by an X-ray scan. In 2011, the 46,000 children attending Sheffield Children's Hospital Emergency Department had 10,400 X-rays, mostly to help diagnose bone fractures. Roughly half the X-ray scans taken indicate that the injury is sprain. Unnecessary X-ray scan means raising costs and exposing patients to ionising radiation.
A study applying vibration analysis was conducted on the wrists of children aged between 10 and 15 years old to determine the presence or absence of fracture, following wrist trauma. Without radiographs it is not possible for a doctor to confirm whether trauma has resulted in a sprain or a fracture. The current waiting time for patients to see a doctor is set at 4 hours by the National Health Service of the U.K. This means that many children (who only have a sprain) are exposed to unnecessary radiation and they and their guardians are spending needless hours in the Emergency Department and potentially prolonging the stay of others. Therefore, a screening tool is required to more precisely select those children who should proceed to radiographic examinations. We have developed a hand-held vibration inducer that sends vibrating signals through the long bones for a small period of time. This device is pre-programmed and captures the corresponding vibration responses by means of a piezoelectric sensor. Data were recorded from the local children's hospital. Noise and distortion of the signals were removed as much as possible by three methods. The methods consist of subtraction of the root mean squared signals from each signal acquired, filtering the resulting signals and finally application of a suitable windowing method. The frequencies were classified by the 'Maximum Likelihood Estimate'. The frequencies were separated into two groups: males and females for clearer comparisons. All analyses were compared with x-ray findings.
The common way for doctors to differentiate wrist injury in to a sprain or a fracture, is to take radiographs (X-ray), which expose patients to radiation. The purpose of this study is to explore a non-invasive method to screen for potential fractures. A small, computer run system has been developed which consists of a vibration induction mechanism and a sensing system for capturing the vibration signals. Two analyzing techniques were considered. The first involves extraction of wavelet coefficients from decomposition of data and the second applies Fast Fourier Transform to the data. Results of both techniques were then cluster analyzed to partition between fracture and sprain. The data were acquired from both the injured and uninjured wrists of six adult patients. This study is currently being evaluated on children's wrists.
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