Biomedical subjects

G Burdea

Publications and source records attributed to G Burdea.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2002

Virtual reality-based post-stroke hand rehabilitation.

A VR-based system using a CyberGlove and a Rutgers Master II-ND haptic glove was used to rehabilitate four post-stroke patients in the chronic phase. Each patient had to perform a variety of VR exercises to reduce impairments in their finger range of motion, speed, fractionation and strength. Patients exercised for about two hours per day, five days a week for three weeks. Results showed that three of the patients had gains in thumb range (50-140%) and finger speed (10-15%) over the three weeks trial. All four patients had significant improvement in finger fractionation (40-118%). Gains in finger strength were modest, due in part to an unexpected hardware malfunction. Two of the patients were measured against one-month post intervention and showed good retention. Evaluation using the Jebsen Test of Hand Function showed a reduction of 23-28% in time completion for two of the patients (the ones with the higher degrees of impairment). A prehension task was performed 9-40% faster for three of the patients after the intervention illustrating transfer of their improvement to a functional task.

Aged↗

PubMed2000

Virtual reality-based orthopedic telerehabilitation.

Rehabilitation interventions in remote areas are problematic because of distance and available resources. Orthopedic impairments acquired by individuals in remote areas can then lead to permanent disabilities/loss of function because of lack of appropriate rehabilitation. A system being developed by Rutgers and Stanford Universities provides therapy at the patient's home, with remote monitoring and periodic re-assessment. This telerehabilitation system uses virtual reality and haptic interfaces, and a pair of networked PCs. It is intended for rehabilitation of patients with hand, elbow, knee and ankle impairments. Data from the first patient treated with the telerehabilitation system is encouraging.

Exercise Therapy↗

PubMed2000

Orthopedic rehabilitation using the "Rutgers ankle" interface.

A novel ankle rehabilitation device is being developed for home use, allowing remote monitoring by therapists. The system will allow patients to perform a variety of exercises while interacting with a virtual environment (VE). These game-like VEs created with WorldToolKit run on a host PC that controls the movement and output forces of the device via an RS232 connection. Patients will develop strength, flexibility, coordination, and balance as they interact with the VEs. The device will also perform diagnostic functions, measuring the ankle's range of motion, force exertion capabilities and coordination. The host PC transparently records patient progress for remote evaluation by therapists via our existing telerehabilitation system. The "Rutgers Ankle" Orthopedic Rehabilitation Interface uses double-acting pneumatic cylinders, linear potentiometers, and a 6 degree-of-freedom (DOF) force sensor. The controller contains a Pentium single-board computer and pneumatic control valves. Based on the Stewart platform, the device can move and supply forces and torques in 6 DOFs. A proof-of-concept trial conducted at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) provided therapist and patient feedback. The system measured the range of motion and maximum force output of a group of four patients (male and female). Future medical trials are required to establish clinical efficacy in rehabilitation.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Virtual reality-based training for the diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Prostate malignancies are the second leading cause of cancer deaths among men. The most common method of detecting this disease is digital rectal examination (DRE). Current DRE training is inadequate, since the number of patients that students can practice on is limited. Furthermore, allied care personnel do not train in screening for prostate cancer. Finally, there is no objective way to follow the improvement in DRE skills for medical personnel. This paper presents a virtual reality-based simulator that addresses the above problems. The prototype consists of a PHANToM haptic interface which provides feedback to the trainee's index finger, a motion restricting board, and an SGI workstation, which renders the patient's anatomy. Four types of prostates were modeled--normal, enlarged with no tumor, incipient malignancy (single tumor), and advanced malignancy (tumor cluster). Human factors studies were conducted on both nonmedical students and urology residents in order to quantify the system usefulness. After only five minutes of training, nonmedical students had a 67% correct diagnosis rate of malignant versus nonmalignant cases. This compared with 56% for urology residents in the same trials. Subjective evaluation by the residents pointed out the need to improve the virtual prostate model realism. A control group formed of urology residents performed the same trials on a modified Merck Procar simulator. The control group scored significantly better (96% correct diagnosis of malignancies). We conclude that the virtual prostate palpation simulator, while promising, needs significant improvement in both model realism and haptic interface hardware.

Computer Simulation↗

PubMed1999

PC-based telerehabilitation system with force feedback.

A PC-based orthopedic rehabilitation system was developed for use at home, while allowing for remote monitoring from the clinic. The home rehabilitation station has a Pentium II PC with graphics accelerator, Polhemus tracker, and a novel Multipurpose Haptic Control Interface with its own Pentium board. This interface is used to sample patient's hand positions and to provide resistive forces using the Rutgers Master II (RMII) glove. A library of virtual rehabilitation routines was developed using WorldToolKit software. At the present time, it consists of two physical therapy exercises (DigiKey and Ball) and two functional rehabilitation exercises (Peg Board test and Ball game). All VR exercises allow automatic and transparent patient data collection into an Oracle database. A remote Pentium II PC is connected with the home-based PC over the Internet and an additional video-conferencing connection. The remote computer running Oracle server is used to maintain the patient database, monitor progress and change exercise level of difficulty. This allows for timely patient progress monitoring and repeat evaluations over time from the Clinic. The system will soon start clinical trails at Stanford Medical School, with progress being monitored remotely from Rutgers University. Other rehabilitation haptic interfaces under development include devices for elbow, and knee rehabilitation connected to the Multipurpose Haptic Control Interface.

Computer Graphics↗

PubMed1997

Computerized hand diagnostic/rehabilitation system using a force feedback glove.

This paper describes recent results of a unified computerized system for hand diagnosis and rehabilitation. Automatic diagnosis data collection and Virtual Reality rehabilitation exercises are the main characteristics of the system. The diagnosis subsystem includes a tactile sensing glove in addition to standard devices such as electronic dynamometer, pinchmeter and goniometer. Three standard rehabilitation exercises were simulated in a Virtual Reality environment, using the WorldToolKit graphics library. The first two exercises (ball squeezing and DigiKey) allow measurement of finger forces exerted during the rehabilitation routine. The third exercise (Peg board) involves the patient's visual-motor coordination. The rehabilitation subsystem uses a VPL DataGlove retrofitted with Rutgers Master (RM-I) and its interface. The exercises involve manipulation of objects with different stiffnesses and geometry. Grasping forces were modeled and fed back using the Rutgers Master worn on patient's hand. Data is gathered in real time from both diagnosis and rehabilitation subsystems. Finger specific forces recorded during rehabilitation exercises allow better diagnosis of the patient impairment. An ORACLE database is used to store and manipulate patients' records. Proof of concept trials were performed in a clinical environment. Some results of patient records analysis are presented in this paper. A new version of the system using an RM II haptic interface is presently under consideration.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Dynamic force feedback in a virtual knee palpation.

A virtual model of a knee joint with muscles, ligaments and bones has been developed. This model includes realistic 3-D surface deformation and tissue stiffnesses. Tissue and bone deformation (palpation) produces real time force feedback to the user hand wearing a DataGlove and Rutgers Master. Collision detection algorithms determine when and where the virtual hand palpates the surface model. This user interaction with the muscles and bones of a human knee model may be used as a training and planning tool for knee surgery.

Algorithms↗