Validation of the Kinect device as a new portable imaging system for three-dimensional breast assessment.

Aim: The aim of this study was the evaluation of a new, simple, touchless, low-cost and portable three-dimensional (3D) measurement system for objective breast assessment.

Method: The Kinect Recording System by Microsoft was used. Coloured and depth images were captured of nine silicone breast implants of known volumes. The data were processed using Matlab(®) software. Volume measurements were obtained in a blinded calculation on the 3D images. For further comparison, implant volumes were assessed with the Arthur Morris device, a manual measurement tool.

Results: Four tests revealed that the true breast implant volumes were calculated within an error margin of 10%. Reproducibility of measurements was satisfactory. Overall, the accuracy and reproducibility of the measurements of the Kinect System were better than those of the Arthur Morris device. Accuracy of volume assessments with the Kinect System was satisfactory for clinical application. Our new portable 3D imaging system was successfully validated.

Discussion: The portable and easy-to-use system has several advantages against the currently available commercial systems. Despite a slight overestimation of the volume data, we felt that these results were very promising due to the repeatability of the measurements. After validating the measurement accuracy of the system in a simpler case, we aim to conduct further studies on 3D breast assessment.

Conclusion: The results obtained with the Kinect System were sufficiently accurate and reproducible for application in 3D breast capture. We successfully validated the portable 3D imaging system for the first ever use in 3D breast assessment.