title: A multi-center milestone study of clinical vertebral CT segmentation.
abstract: A multiple center milestone study of clinical vertebra segmentation is presented in this paper. Vertebra segmentation is a fundamental step for spinal image analysis and intervention. The first half of the study was conducted in the spine segmentation challenge in 2014 International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) Workshop on Computational Spine Imaging (CSI 2014). The objective was to evaluate the performance of several state-of-the-art vertebra segmentation algorithms on computed tomography (CT) scans using ten training and five testing dataset, all healthy cases; the second half of the study was conducted after the challenge, where additional 5 abnormal cases are used for testing to evaluate the performance under abnormal cases. Dice coefficients and absolute surface distances were used as evaluation metrics. Segmentation of each vertebra as a single geometric unit, as well as separate segmentation of vertebra substructures, was evaluated. Five teams participated in the comparative study. The top performers in the study achieved Dice coefficient of 0.93 in the upper thoracic, 0.95 in the lower thoracic and 0.96 in the lumbar spine for healthy cases, and 0.88 in the upper thoracic, 0.89 in the lower thoracic and 0.92 in the lumbar spine for osteoporotic and fractured cases. The strengths and weaknesses of each method as well as future suggestion for improvement are discussed. This is the first multi-center comparative study for vertebra segmentation methods, which will provide an up-to-date performance milestone for the fast growing spinal image analysis and intervention.
authors.affiliation: Imaging Biomarkers and Computer-Aided Detection Laboratory, Radiology and Imaging Sciences, National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Jianhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA 92868, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.affiliation: Sectra, Linköping, Sweden & Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Forsberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Seitel
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Abtin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rasoulian
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Purang
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Abolmaesumi
authors.affiliation: Institute for Computer Graphics and Vision, BioTechMed, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hammernik
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Clinical Forensic Imaging, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Urschler
authors.affiliation: University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Bulat
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ibragimov
authors.affiliation: University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Korez
authors.affiliation: University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Tomaž
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vrtovec
authors.affiliation: Centre for Computational Imaging and Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine (CISTIB), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Isaac
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Castro-Mateos
authors.affiliation: Centre for Computational Imaging and Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine (CISTIB), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Jose M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pozo
authors.affiliation: Centre for Computational Imaging and Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine (CISTIB), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Alejandro F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Frangi
authors.affiliation: Imaging Biomarkers and Computer-Aided Detection Laboratory, Radiology and Imaging Sciences, National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Ronald M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Summers
authors.affiliation: GE Healthcare & University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada. Electronic address: slishuo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Shuo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D002140:California; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012986:Software Validation; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data