Monitoring Improvement in Infantile Cerebral Palsy Patients Using the 4DBODY System-A Preliminary Study.

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation medicine
• Biomedical engineering
• Pediatric neurology

Background:

• Effective rehabilitation for infantile cerebral palsy (ICP) requires objective patient monitoring.
• Modern optical measurement techniques offer precise assessment of dynamic movement.
• The 4DBODY system enables high-accuracy capture of patient motion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of the 4DBODY system in monitoring ICP patient rehabilitation.
• To introduce and validate the Trunk Mobility in the Frontal Plane Index (TMFPI) for assessing ICP.
• To correlate 4DBODY measurements with established clinical scales like the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM 88).

Main Methods:

• Eight patients with ICP underwent a seven-day therapy regimen combining neurodevelopmental treatment (NDT) and functional training (FT).
• The 4DBODY system was used to capture dynamic movement data at three time points: pre-therapy, post-therapy, and one week after therapy.
• The Trunk Mobility in the Frontal Plane Index (TMFPI) was developed and calculated from 4DBODY data, alongside GMFM 88 scores.

Main Results:

• The 4DBODY system precisely tracked body movements in ICP patients.
• Five patients showed improvement in the TMFPI parameter, indicating better body alignment, balance, and movement symmetry.
• Two patients had inconsistent results, and one showed deterioration in TMFPI.
• All patients demonstrated increased GMFM 88 scores compared to pre-treatment values.

Conclusions:

• Surface scanning with the 4DBODY system is a precise method for tracking body movement in ICP patients.
• A decrease in the TMFPI parameter correlates with improvements in body alignment, balance, and movement symmetry.
• The 4DBODY system and TMFPI offer valuable objective data for monitoring ICP rehabilitation progress.