Automated vertebral body image segmentation for medical screening
US8891848B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 6, 2012 |
| Grant date | Nov 18, 2014 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 29, 2033 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG16H30/20
- WIPO fieldMedical technology
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A method is disclosed for fully automated segmentation of human vertebral body images in a CT (computerized tomography) study with no user interaction and no phantoms, which has resiliency to anatomical abnormalities, and protocol and scanner variations. The method was developed to enable automated detection of osteoporosis in CT studies performed for other clinical reasons. Testing with 1,044 abdominal CTs from multiple sites, resulted in detection of 96.3% of the vertebral bodies and 1% false positives. Of the detected vertebral bodies, 83.3% were segmented adequately for sagittal plane quantitative evaluation of vertebral fractures indicative of osteoporosis. Improved results were observed when selecting the best sagittal plane of 3 for each vertebra, yielding a segmentation success rate of 85.4%. The method is preferably implemented in software as a building block in a system for automated osteoporosis detection.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.