(October 31, 2017) - We are 31 days into the CAD WALK project and progress has been made on various fronts. We review that progress here in a recurring segment I'd like to call Alert Status Red (apologies to Matthew Good). It is our plan to give you a status update like this at the end of every month. So, let's begin!
Ethics Review: Our ethics application is almost ready for review. As you can see to the left, we've written up our research protocol (29 pages) that covers how research volunteers will be treated and how their personal data will be protected. Also written up are the information sheet for the volunteers, and their informed consent form. These documents will soon be submitted to the Medical Ethical Review Board and we will defend our project protocol to them in the coming 4-6 weeks. We plan to have the ethical approval for our study in place before the end of the year.
CAD WALK Mock Up: While we wait for our ethical review to move forward, we have also been making progress on the design and construction of CAD WALK itself. To the right, you will see a conceptual mock up of what CAD WALK will look like. In the center, you see the plantar pressure video of a patient under examination. CAD WALK examines that patient by comparing them to the leftmost plantar pressure video. This leftmost video is estimated from a group of healthy individuals and should represent the healthy baseline for that patient. On the right, we highlight areas where the plantar pressures differ significantly between the other two video. Red regions show where the patient has unusually high pressure, while blue regions show where the patient has unusually low pressure.
The key to the CAD WALK project is estimating that leftmost plantar pressure video. An accurate estimate of that healthy baseline is essential for the comparison between it and the patient's measurement to make sense. The remainder of the project will be focused on making that estimate as accurate as possible.
Looking Good: As part of our attempt to engage the public, we created uniforms! Our hope is that by wearing these lovely shirts in public, we can hopefully pique people's interest enough to either ask us about the project or visit this website (the website's URL is on the back of the shirt). This coming month, you can find CAD WALK team members at the New York Marathon and the Porto Marathon (both November 5th). If you see the shirt, come over and say hi!
Up Next in November, 2017...
