History of oSATCo
A placeholder description and if this description had more words
how would that look?
Clinical Case
- Head and trunk control
- mandatory for effective performance of everyday functional activities
- vision, sitting, walking or any upper limb activity.
- Children with CP, SMA, and other neuromuscular disorders
- all have poor trunk control,
- accurate, objective assessment of segmental trunk control is not available within clinical practice
- This unmet clinical need will impact negatively on
- understanding and treatment of these conditions, and on
- the healthcare resource utilisation associated with the management of these conditions
- Currently no objective, clinical segmental test of trunk control is available.
- The link between trunk control and motor function is becoming apparent (in recent publications) but there is a need for the extra detail provided by the proposed segmental objective assessment
- Currently there is a need for extensive, accurate evidence to validate effectiveness of physiotherapy and drug treatments.
Our objective
to develop an accurate, low-cost clinical tool to provide automated, objective assessment of the segmental level of trunk control in children with CP and SMA1
Intermediate objectives in order of priority
1. Acquisition of a substantial cross-sectional dataset demonstrating the range of problems of trunk control in children with CP.
2. Acquisition of a cross-sectional dataset demonstrating a sample of problems of trunk control in children with SMA1.
3. Acquisition of a cross-sectional dataset demonstrating a sample of problems of trunk control in children with SMA1.
4. Development and validation of imaging analysis neural-networks automating live assessment of segmental trunk control for children with CP and SMA1.
5. Acquisition of a longitudinal dataset of children quantifying trunk control status to provide sufficient data to plan appropriately powered clinical trials using the tool.
6. Publication of a substantial online database disseminating a public standard, a reference and a training resource for measuring trunk control impairment in children with CP and SMA1.
7. Delivery and dissemination of a working, low-cost tool, usable and useful within any clinic, to provide automated, objective assessment of segmental trunk control in children.
8. Acquisition of an exploratory cross-sectional dataset defining the range of problems of trunk control in children with neuromuscular disorders including congenital myopathy, congenital muscular dystrophy, SMA type 2 and Duchenne muscular dystrophy to aid understanding of the natural progression of these conditions and enhance management.
Timeline
| Milestones | Dates |
| Funded Awarded | July 2019 |
| Ethical Approval | January 2020 |
| Covid-19 | March 2020 |
| Restart | September 2021 |
September 2021 – June 2024
Data Collection
- Clinical range of height, body morphology and trunk control status
- 102 CP
- 37 TD
- 12 SMA1
- 28 NMD
- Measurements
- oSATCo
- oGeneral motor function
⇣
January 2022 – October 2024
Data Annotation
⇣
January 2022 – October 2024
Automation of video analysis
- Neural network extraction
- of low level variables
- “alignment”, “contact”
- from RGB-D images.
- SATCo Rules
⇣
January 2022 – October 2024
Training, Testing and Validation
- Some content
- Some content
⇣
June 2024 – January 2025
Dissemination
- Training and user specification
- Benefits and cost of SATCo
- Integration into clinical practice
- Recruitment of partners for next-stage fundingSome content
Project Team
| Role | Name | Organisation |
| Principal Investigator | Professor Ian Loram | Manchester Metropolitan University |
| Researcher Co-Investigator | Dr Ryan Cunningham | Manchester Metropolitan University |
| Co-Investigator | Professor Paul Holmes | Manchester Metropolitan University |
| Co-Investigator | Dr Penelope Barbara Butler | Manchester Metropolitan University (Hon) |
| Co-Investigator | Professor Tracey Willis | The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt (RJAH) NHS Foundation Trust |
| Co-Investigator | Dr Richa Kulshrestha | The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt (RJAH) |
| Co-Investigator | Mr Andrew Roberts | The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt (RJAH) |
| Post-Doctoral Research Associate | Dr Maria Sanchez then Dr Tania Emi Sakanaka | Manchester Metropolitan University |
| Senior Research Assistant | Dr Natalia Rajkowska then Teresa Perez | Manchester Metropolitan University |
Project Partners
