title: Automatic vertebral morphometry assessment.
abstract: Diagnosis of vertebral deformation and fracture is a key issue in the management of osteoporosis. Vertebral morphometry is the key solution to assess these vertebral deformities, but it is a tedious operation for the rheumatologist. In this paper, we propose an automatic approach to localize vertebrae and determine the vertebral morphometry. Based on a local phase symmetry measure, our approach shows promising results even on poor quality images. This work was tested on 22 scans of conventional lateral X-rays radiographs and compared to the results obtained by a trained radiologist. It resulted to have acceptable low error rates for localization and vertebral morphometry measures, but with a lack of robustness among images. Amelioration is necessary for images with an unoptimized patient positioning, when the X-ray beam is not perpendicular to the spine.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biomedical Engineering Science and Technology, Institute of Clinical Physiology, Lecce, Italy. casciaro@ifc.cnr.it
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Casciaro
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Massoptier
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013131:Spine / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*