MuSkeldiagnosis – Dynamic assessment of musculoskeletal diseases

Microwaves for medical sensing and imaging is a new and rapidly expanding technique.

This project aims to create the basic scientific knowledge for the development of effective microwave-based modalities to diagnose pathological conditions related to musculoskeletal systems.

In order to achieve the goal of assessing musculoskeletal health two major pathological conditions will be explored; sarcopenia and osteoporosis.

The project uses bipartite application scenarios namely cachexia and spine fusion surgery to characterize the pathology using microwave spectroscopy.

It will derive theoretical models to design the experiments and formulate technical tools to gather clinical data in order to analyse the diagnostic outcomes. We aim at making a significant advancement in the area of microwave assessment of musculoskeletal disorders. The goals are to achieve:  1.

Ex-Vivo/In-Vivo dielectric characterization of human muscle and bone in the microwave frequency range of 0.5-10 GHz, for sarcopenia and osteoporosis. 2.Theoretical and empirical modelling of the pathology and sensitivity analysis of sensors to be used for data collection. 3. Clinical data collection using microwave sensors in breast cancer and cachexia patients.

Microwave based techniques are expected to dramatically improve assessment of musculoskeletal disease. The current research project will establish the scientific foundation for such development.