Force Anticipation and Its Potential Implications on Feedforward and Feedback Human Motor Control.

Objective: To investigate the effects of human force anticipation, we conducted an experimental load-pushing task with diverse combinations of informed and actual loading weights.

Background: Human motor control tends to rely upon the anticipated workload to plan the force to exert, particularly in fast tasks such as pushing objects in less than 1 s. The motion and force responses in such tasks may depend on the anticipated resistive forces, based on a learning process.

A flexible multicamera visual-tracking system for detecting and correcting motion-induced artifacts in cardiac SPECT slices.

Patient motion is inevitable in SPECT and PET due to the lengthy period of time patients are imaged. The authors hypothesized that the use of external-tracking devices which provide additional information on patient motion independent of SPECT data could be employed to provide a more robust correction than obtainable from data-driven methods. Therefore, the authors investigated the Vicon MX visual-tracking system (VTS) which utilizes near-infrared (NIR) cameras to stereo-image small retroreflective markers on stretchy bands wrapped about the chest and abdomen of patients during cardiac SPECT.

An Assessment of a Low-Cost Visual Tracking System (VTS) to Detect and Compensate for Patient Motion during SPECT.

Patient motion is inevitable in SPECT and PET due to the lengthy period of time patients are imaged and patient motion can degrade diagnostic accuracy. The goal of our studies is to perfect a methodology for tracking and correcting patient motion when it occurs. In this paper we report on enhancements to the calibration, camera stability, accuracy of motion tracking, and temporal synchronization of a low-cost visual tracking system (VTS) we are developing.

An Adaptive Approach to Decomposing Patient-Motion Tracking Data Acquired During Cardiac SPECT Imaging.

Patient motion during cardiac SPECT imaging can cause diagnostic imaging artifacts. We have implemented a Neural Network (NN) approach to decompose monitored patient motion data, gathered during cardiac SPECT imaging, using the Polaris stereo-IR real-time motion-tracking system. Herein, we show the successful decomposition of Polaris motion data into rigid body motion (RBM) and respiratory motion (RM).

Body Deformation Correction for SPECT Imaging.

Patient motion degrades the quality of SPECT studies. Body bend and twist are types of patient deformation, which may occur during SPECT imaging, and which has been generally ignored in SPECT motion correction strategies. To correct for these types of motion, we propose a deformation model and its inclusion within an iterative reconstruction algorithm.

Use of three-dimensional Gaussian interpolation in the projector/backprojector pair of iterative reconstruction for compensation of known rigid-body motion in SPECT.

Due to the extended imaging times employed in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET), patient motion during imaging is a common clinical occurrence. The fast and accurate correction of the three-dimensional (3-D) translational and rotational patient motion in iterative reconstruction is thus necessary to address this important cause of artifacts. We propose a method of incorporating 3-D Gaussian interpolation in the projector/backprojector pair to facilitate compensation for rigid-body motion in addition to attenuation and distance-dependent blurring.

A Robust Visual Tracking System for Patient Motion Detection in SPECT: Hardware Solutions.

Our overall research goal is to devise a robust method of tracking and compensating patient motion by combining an emission data based approach with a visual tracking system (VTS) that provides an independent estimate of motion. Herein, we present the latest hardware configuration of the VTS, a test of the accuracy of motion tracking by it, and our solution for synchronization between the SPECT and the optical acquisitions. The current version of the VTS includes stereo imaging with sets of optical network cameras with attached light sources, a SPECT/VTS calibration phantom, a black stretchable garment with reflective spheres to track chest motion, and a computer to control the cameras.

Feasibility of Stereo-Infrared Tracking to Monitor Patient Motion During Cardiac SPECT Imaging.

Patient motion during cardiac SPECT imaging can cause diagnostic imaging artifacts. We investigated the feasibility of monitoring patient motion using the Polaris motion-tracking system. This system uses passive infrared reflection from small spheres to provide real-time position data with vendor stated 0.