How to quantify limb volume: A new overview of measurement methods

Precise definition of the volume and/or perimeter of a limb is
essential to understand the evolution of certain pathologies and to
ensure good medical follow-up of the patient. There are many
different methods of measuring volume and perimetry, each with its
own specificities, but none of them being at the same time accurate,
repeatable, reproducible, transportable, fast and easy to use, etc. We
then described most used of the methods and then compare them to a
new one, the PeriKit®
(PK), for taking limb measurements, the main
ones being the Water Displacement (WD), Conventional Tape
Measure (CTL), Optoelectronic Scanner (OS), Scanner and Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (MRI). In order to be able to define which
method is the best to use, we compared and ranked them according
to 13 criteria of use. The WD (gold standard) appears to be outdated;
the PK seems to be the most suitable device for daily measurement.