Soluções Baseadas em IA para Otimização do Neurodesenvolvimento Feto-Neonatal: Monitorização, Diagnóstico e Tratamento Personalizado

This project aims to establish an AI-driven framework for assessing head and brain health during the fetal-neonatal period and to develop a pipeline for designing personalized cranial orthoses for cranial deformities. The goals are: 1) To develop AI systems to improve current diagnosis, prevention, and monitoring of head disturbances, with the objectives: · Assist clinicians in extracting information from fetal US images - the project aims to enhance clinical practice by developing automatic approaches for anatomical plane extraction and biometric measurement, streamlining clinical workflows. · Enhance traditional clinical practice with 3D analysis – by developing head segmentation methods for fetal US, in-utero MR, and neonatal MR images, detailed 3D anatomical models will be created, which will be further processed by an AI analysis tool for 3D assessment. Moreover, AI tools for brain segmentation in fetal and infant MR images will support diagnosing brain abnormalities. · Empower early intervention through infant monitoring – developing AI methods to assess infant health indicators like heart rate, pain, and head orientation will enable early detection and intervention. Additionally, the mobile application for parents will empower parents to actively monitor their infants' health. · Enhance health monitoring through an integrated framework – by consolidating all AI-based methods into an integrated framework, continuous monitoring of head and brain health is envisioned, connecting fetal and neonatal stages to enhance neurodevelopment tracking. 2) To develop acquisition systems to support the generation of head anatomical models aiming at: · Enable precise 3D head shape capture – By developing a system for acquiring 3D head shape data, the project aims to streamline data collection with minimal setup, allowing to capture head models in clinical and at-home settings. 3) To promote patient-specific therapeutics using smart solutions, aiming at: · Streamline clinical workflow with AI-driven orthosis design – through an AI-based method that generates target head shapes and automatically defines orthosis trimlines, the modeling process is facilitated. · Offer new approaches for advanced manufacturing systems – functionally graded lattice structures and additive manufacturing will be explored to create customized orthoses with improved pressure distribution, enhancing treatment efficacy, with potential applications in other fields. · Explore new solutions for treatment monitoring – by studying the integration of conductive materials into the lattice structures, this project enables continuous pressure monitoring, enabling precise adjustments. · Offer a new platform for automating orthosis development – the different orthosis modeling modules, namely AI-driven deformity correction, trimline design, and lattice structure generation will be integrated in the unified framework envisioned in this project, allowing to streamline the orthosis development process. 4) To establish immersive and realistic environments for medical training, with the objectives: · Enhance diagnostic skills through interactive training – by creating game modules simulating real clinical scenarios in fetal and neonatal imaging, it is aimed to improve clinicians’ skills in diagnostic imaging. · Support clinical decision-making with 3D head shape assessment – by providing training modules that simulate cranial deformity evaluations, clinicians' visual assessment skills.