title: Prediction of fragmentation of kidney stones: A statistical approach from NCCT images.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We sought to develop a system to predict the fragmentation of stones using non-contrast computed tomography (NCCT) image analysis of patients with renal stone disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  The features corresponding to first order statistical (FOS) method were extracted from the region of interest in the NCCT scan image of patients undergoing extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) treatment and the breakability was predicted using neural network.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When mean was considered as the feature, the results indicated that the model developed for prediction had sensitivity of 80.7% in true positive (TP) cases. The percent accuracy in identifying correctly the TP and true negative (TN) cases was 90%. TN cases were identified with a specificity of 98.4%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Application of statistical methods and training the neural network system will enable accurate prediction of the fragmentation and outcome of ESWL treatment.
authors.affiliation: Lourdes Hospital, Kochi, India.
authors.forename: Krishna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moorthy
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Electronics, Government Engineering College, Thrissur, S. India.
authors.forename: Meenakshy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krishnan