Development of a Novel Vital-Signs-Based Infection Screening Composite-Type Camera With Truncus Motion Removal...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Infectious Disease Screening
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Developing rapid, non-contact COVID-19 screening tools is crucial for clinical settings.
• Existing methods may be limited by patient movement and require direct contact.
• A mobile, vital-signs-based system was needed for preliminary assessment before PCR testing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a composite-type camera (VISC-Camera) for rapid, non-contact COVID-19 screening.
• To integrate a truncus motion removal algorithm (TMRA) for accurate vital sign measurement amidst patient movement.
• To assess the VISC-Camera's efficacy in distinguishing COVID-19 patients from healthy individuals.

Main Methods:

• The VISC-Camera integrates stereo depth, RGB, and thermal cameras to measure respiratory rate (RR), heart rate (HR), and body temperature (BT).
• A truncus motion removal algorithm (TMRA) was employed to correct RR measurement errors caused by non-respiratory torso movements.
• A logistic regression model utilized RR, HR, and BT for patient classification, with results available within 10 seconds.

Main Results:

• The VISC-Camera demonstrated 91% sensitivity and 90% specificity in distinguishing COVID-19 patients from healthy controls.
• High correlations were observed between VISC-Camera measurements and reference methods for RR (r=0.93), HR (r=0.97), and BT (r=0.72).
• The system achieved an area under the ROC curve of 0.97, indicating strong diagnostic performance.

Conclusions:

• The VISC-Camera with TMRA shows significant promise for preliminary COVID-19 screening in clinical environments, even with patient motion.
• The system offers a rapid, non-contact screening solution, particularly for afebrile patients who might otherwise be misdiagnosed as asymptomatic.
• Further validation may be needed to address potential misdiagnosis in asymptomatic cases.