Point-of-care 3D body-mapping for determining total body surface area of severely burned patients

Abstract

Total body surface area (TBSA) is a critical biometric for accurate body fluid restoration and drug dosing in medical treatments. However, current clinical equation calculations of TBSA are highly inaccurate, resulting in error up to 25%. Within burn care, this error leads to misinformed fluid resuscitation that result in increased medical complications. Our team sought to combine recently developed mathematical equations that are clinically unutilized with 3D scanning methods to better the accuracy of TBSA calculations in treatment. To bridge the gap between modern TBSA equations and the clinic, we developed an algorithm that indexes an equation best suited to a patient according to inputs such as age, height and weight. For patients that cannot be matched to an appropriate equation, our team developed a time-of-flight scanning protocol to capture 3D models of the human body. From these models, TBSA can be extrapolated finite analysis deconstruction and image processing tools. Our scanning device reduced error of TBSA to an average of 4% across all scanned subjects and it proved to be one of the first 3D scanning devices compatible to the clinic workflow.