Comparison of ultrasound scanning for scoliosis assessment: Robotic versus manual

Background: Ultrasound (US) imaging for scoliosis assessment is challenging for a non-experienced operator. The robotic scanning was developed to follow a spinal curvature with deep learning and apply consistent forces to the patient's back. Methods: Twenty three scoliosis patients were scanned with US device both, robotically and manually. Two human raters measured each subject's spinous process angles on robotic and manual coronal images. Results: The robotic method showed high intra- (ICC > 0.85) and inter-rater (ICC > 0.77) reliabilities. Compared with the manual method, the robotic approach showed no significant difference (p < 0.05) when measuring coronal deformity angles. The mean absolute deviation for intra-rater analysis lies within an acceptable range from 0 to 5° for the minimum of 86% and maximum 97% of a total number of the measured angles. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that scoliosis deformity angles measured on ultrasound images obtained with robotic scanning are comparable to those obtained by manual scanning.