The purpose of this work is to develop a new integrated methodology for breast morphology assessment in plastic and reconstructive surgery. Such a methodology comprises hand-held laser scanning with active compensation of breathing motion and involuntary movements, in order to obtain a thorough and artifacts-free representation of patient breast shape. This was obtained by tracking surface motion with a configuration of passive markers fitted on the patient's thoraco-abdominal region. The proposed method, based on a mapping procedure, has been compared with respiratory gating, that is commonly used in radiotherapy and biomedical imaging applications. The results show that the implemented procedure is adequately able to compensate for motion, resulting in quantitative surface description to be used for clinical evaluation.

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Leukocyte extravasation and interstitial migration are key events during inflammation. Traditional in vitro techniques address only specific steps of cell recruitment to tissues and fail to recapitulate the whole process in an appropriate three-dimensional (3D) microenvironment. Herein, we describe a device that enables us to qualitatively and quantitatively assess in 4D the interdependent steps underlying leukocyte trafficking in a close-to-physiology in vitro context. Real-time tracking of cells, from initial adhesion to the endothelium and subsequent diapedesis to interstitial migration towards the source of the chemoattractant within the 3D collagen matrix, is enabled by the use of optically transparent porous membranes laid over the matrix. Unique features of the device, such as the use of non-planar surfaces and the contribution of physiological flow to the establishment of a persistent chemoattractant gradient, were assessed by numerical simulations and validated by proof-of-concept, simultaneous testing of differentially treated primary mouse neutrophils. This microfluidic platform offers new and versatile tools to thoroughly investigate the stepwise process of circulating cell recruitment to target tissues in vitro and to test novel therapeutics targeting various steps of the process.