title: Quantifying deterioration of bone tissue from grey-level images.
abstract: Quantification of the severity of the deterioration in bone tissue is an important diagnostic problem involving the assessment of connectedness of the tissue from its grey-level images. In this study a fuzzy parameter was introduced for quantifying the severity of discontinuities of network-like structures. For each two pixels of an analyzed image, the fuzzy parameter was derived from the grey-level intensity along the brightest path connecting them. The performance of this parameter was tested on images of continuous and discontinuous samples of vertebral trabecular bone, matched for mean gray-level intensity. It was shown that the values of the parameter were significantly different (P-value<10(-6)) in both groups and equal to 0.02+/-0.11 and 0.46+/-0.22 for discontinuous and continuous samples, respectively. The decrease in the fuzzy parameter could be interpreted as the result of either an increasing gap size in discontinuous structures or a decreasing thickness of structure elements in continuous structures. A possible application of the method for use in quantifying severity of discontinuities within the vertebral cortical rim was described.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics, Jagiellonian University Medical College, ul. Grzegorzecka 16a, 31-531 Cracow, Poland. tabor@alphas.if.uj.edu.pl
authors.forename: Zbisław
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tabor
authors.forename: Eugeniusz
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rokita
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015519:Bone Density; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D013131:Spine / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*