For the past 2 weeks, and the coming 2 weeks, i’m getting more treatment for the lymphoedema in my left leg, which has been getting significantly worse over the last few months.

The treatment consists of daily (or near daily, I get to skip some days if I do all my homework) trips to the hospital, where I get my leg measured to check progress, massaged, shot at with lasers (an interesting post in itself, and unrelated to the title of this one), and then bound with multiple layers of compression bandages, which I then wear for the next 24 hours (or until the next visit). That last bit, is the worst part. The levels of discomfort it involves, being strapped tight 24/7, unable to sit at chairs, unable to crouch, unable to walk properly, and with the constant constant pressure from toe to hip… is not very pleasant.

That’s not the point of this post though

While doing the treatment, I got into a conversation with the specialist about how they measure the limbs. I forget the original details, but it ended up with us both marvelling at how some aspects of the medicine world are so high tech, while other parts are stuck in the dark ages, and these old fashioned areas are the ones where technology could really help.

Their “approved standard” for measuring limbs involves using a tape measure, and writing it all on a piece of paper, then manually doing the calculations to figure out the difference… and it got me thinking… why not just use lasers?

Unless I’m missing something here, it should be really really easy.

The gist of it:

• Take an off-the-shelf handheld 3D scanner.
• Scan the limb, which will save as any number of common/standard file formats.
• Import into a piece of software that calculates the measurements and gives instant overviews on the change.

The notes about that last step:

• You could start an Open Source project, since the program doesn’t need to be that detailed. It’s basically just a viewer for the file, that lets a user click on point, and receive a measurement of the circumference from that point. Or let the program automatically take the measurements at all the right points, since it’s pre-decided by an Australian standard (set distances from the bottom of the heel). Lots of Open Source geeks would love to contribute to a program that actually benefits things like this. I know I would.
• You could easily have the program export the measurements to an Excel spreadsheet (of course us geeks would prefer something else, but for simplicity and ease of use around hospitals, Excel works well and won’t require any extra software). This then gives you the ability to add graphs tracking progress, etc.
• You could get the software started with some grants (the one thing cancer research has lots of, is grants), to get the basic idea going, and then Open Source via Github or some such, for updates/fixes/improvements, that each clinic/hospital can just upgrade as desired. This makes it free to use for any medical center that can afford the 3D scanner.

The reason I think this should be done with an off-the-shelf scanner and Open Source software, is that whenever you ask the medical world to come up with new hardware, they seem to spend millions and millions on development, then take 10 years to come up with some beige clunky outdated piece of tech that gives geeks nightmares, runs off floppy drives, and ends up being patented, and near unaffordable for most clinics.

3D scanners are used already in video game development to give extremely accurate 3D models of real life objects, in minutes, that go to an accuracy resolution that leaves tape measures and human error in the dust. They’re affordable (a grand or two for a really good one), they’re plentiful, they’re extendable and future proof via the software, and they WORK. Yes, a scanner will cost a lot more than a pencil/paper/tape-measure, but the time saved, the extra benefits (volumetric comparisons? graphical overlays showing a visual representation of which areas are changing? ability to print out graphs and charts? etc) would make it worth it for any lymphoedema clinic or hospital. My specialist confirmed this, and said she’d LOVE to have these sorts of features.

It actually really surprises me in general, that the medical world doesn’t use more off-the-shelf hardware combined with grant-driven or Open Source projects to get simple tasks like this done. I understand you wouldn’t exactly open source an MRI machine or blood test labs or anything that is going to risk people’s lives, or that gets used for diagnosis or serious treatment… but you could make specialists/doctors/nurses lives a LOT easier, therefore increasing the quality of health care, with some simple applications of common/proven technology.