Automatic Optic Nerve Sheath Measurement in Point-of-Care Ultrasound

Abstract

Intracranial hypertension associated with traumatic brain injury is a life-threatening condition which requires immediate diagnosis and treatment. The measurement of optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD), using ultrasonography, has been shown to be a promising, non-invasive predictor of intracranial pressure (ICP). Unfortunately, the reproducibility and accuracy of this measure depends on the expertise of the sonologist- a requirement that limits the broad application of ONSD. Previous work on ONSD measurement has focused on computer-automated annotation of expert-acquired ultrasound taken in a clinical setting. Here, we present a system using a handheld point-of-care ultrasound probe whereby the ONSD is automatically measured without requiring an expert sonographer to acquire the images. We report our results on videos from ocular phantoms with varying ONSDs. We show that our approach accurately measures the ONSD despite the lack of an observer keeping the ONSD in focus or in frame.