title: A new method for the automatic identification of the dimensional features of vertebrae.
abstract: In this paper a new automatic approach to determine the accurate measure of human vertebrae is proposed. The aim is to speed up the measurement process and to reduce the uncertainties that typically affect the measurement carried out by traditional approaches. The proposed method uses a 3D model of the vertebra obtained from CT-scans or 3D scanning, from which some characteristic dimensions are detected. For this purpose, specific rules to identify morphological features, from which to detect dimensional features unambiguously and accurately, are put forward and implemented in original software. The automatic method which is here proposed is verified by analysing real vertebrae and is then compared with the state-of-the-art methods for vertebra measurement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial and Information Engineering, and of Economics, L'Aquila, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Di Angelo
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial and Information Engineering, and of Economics, L'Aquila, Italy. Electronic address: paolo.distefano@univaq.it.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Di Stefano
mesh_terms: D001331:Automation; D006801:Humans; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D013131:Spine / Q000033:anatomy & histology*
keywords: 3D medical-image analysis; Computer methods for vertebra analysis; Measurement accuracy; Measurement protocols in biomedicine; Shape segmentation; Vertebral dimensions