title: Automatic vertebral column extraction by whole-body bone SPECT scan.
abstract: Bone extraction and division can enhance the accuracy of diagnoses based on whole-body bone SPECT data. This study developed a method for using conventional SPECT for automatic recognition of the vertebral column. A novel feature of the proposed approach is a novel "bone graph" image description method that represents the connectivity between these image regions to facilitate manipulation of morphological relationships in the skeleton before surgery. By tracking the paths shown on the bone graph, skeletal structures can be identified by performing morphological operations. The performance of the method was evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively by two experienced nuclear medicine physicians. Datasets for whole-body bone SPECT scans in 46 lung cancer patients with bone metastasis were obtained with Tc-99m MDP. The algorithm successfully segmented vertebrae in the thoracolumbar spine. The quantitative assessment shows that the segmentation method achieved an average TP, FP, and FN rates of 95.1%, 9.1%, and 4.9%. The qualitative evaluation shows an average acceptance rate of 83%, where the data for the acceptable and unacceptable groups had a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.718, which indicated reasonable internal consistency and reliability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Informatics, Tzu Chi University, Hualien 97004, Taiwan. spiculate@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Sheng-Fang
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Hao-Yu
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Chao
authors.forename: Pan-Fu
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.forename: Wei-Chih
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Yu-Hsiang
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Shu-Hsin
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D019295:Computational Biology; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013131:Spine / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D013669:Technetium Tc 99m Medronate; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D051598:Whole Body Imaging
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013669:Technetium Tc 99m Medronate