Rapid measurement of lumbosacral spine-pelvic sagittal balance parameters using electronic device

• Main Authors: Jing Wang, Tiege Chen, Xu Rui, Yijun Yang, Haihong Zhang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2020-12-01
• Series: Journal of King Saud University: Science
• Subjects: iPhone; Lumbar lordosis; Pelvic tilt; Sacral slope; Fast measurement
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1018364720301294

Background: Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) is the gold standard for the measurement of spinal parameters. The aim of this study is to evaluate the practical value of using an iPhone to rapidly measure lumbosacral spine-pelvic sagittal parameters, and compared the measurement time and accuracy between iPhone and PACS. Methods: The study group consisted of 50 patients. They were examined with a lateral x-ray of the whole spine in a standard standing position, as well as by three-dimensional CT scan of the lumbosacral area from January to September 2016. An iPhone was employed to take and observe pictures in order to measure the extent of lumbar lordosis (LL), pelvic tilt (PT), and sacral slope (SS). We compared the results with those obtained with PACS, and analyzed the reliability and measurement errors between the two acquisition methods. Results: The average measurement values obtained with PACS were as follows: (LL): 53.56 ± 15.76°, (PT): 12.60 ± 5.15°, (SS): 42.16 ± 13.29°. The average measurement values obtained by iPhone were as follows: LL: 52.20 ± 14.46°, PT: 12.48 ± 5.39°, SS: 12.48 ± 5.39°. There was no statistical significance difference found between the values obtained using the two methods, P > 0.05. The two methods of measurement of intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) were 0.938(De-LL), 0.812(De-PT) and 0.946(De-SS). There was no statistically significant difference in the deviation between the two measurement methods. PACS measurement time: 18.53 ± 1.44 s; iPhone measurement time: 14.02 ± 1.08 s, iPhone demonstrating statistically significant faster measurement times than PACS, P < 0.05. Conclusion: Using the iPhone’s built-in photo editing function to rapidly measure the parameters of the spinal- pelvic sagittal plane balance in the lumbosacral region is relatively accurate and reliable. This might provide a great convenience for Orthopedists in their clinical works, because they can measure imaging pictures with their iPhones at any time and place.