Validation of a Three-Dimensional Handheld Scanner in Measuring Breast Anthropometrics

Outcomes in aesthetic breast surgery are dependent on accurate pre-operative breast measurements. The accuracy of large scale 3-dimentional scanners has been reported, the use of handheld scanners has not been described.

The authors aimed to determine the trueness of anthropometric measurements of breasts obtained from a handheld 3D scan compared to direct measurements.

Three raters measured the breasts of 19 women using three anthropometric measurements (direct) measurements: sternal notch to nipple (Sn-N), nipple to inframammary fold (N-IMF), base width (BW). The measurements were taken directly by two raters using a measuring tape, and digitally by one rater using the software on 3D scans acquired with the Artec Leo handheld 3D scanner. Statistical analysis was completed with Bland-Altman plots as well as scatter plots to identify bias between the two methods.

The study found that the 3D scanner showed varying levels of bias when compared to direct breast measurements. Sn-N measurement showed smaller differences, while the N-IMF and BW measurements exhibited larger discrepancies. The 3D scanning process was significantly faster, taking only 30 s per scan, compared to roughly 5 min for direct measurements, with an additional 10 min for image processing and digital measurements.

Three-dimensional scanning is most accurate for Sn-N and is more variable when measuring BW and N-IMF due to obscured landmarks on frontal imaging. The BW and N-IMF measurements also showed the most inter-rater variability. Consistent with previous research 3D scanning has limited trueness when measuring N-IMF as it is a dynamic measurement.