Development of computerized method for detection of vertebral fractures on lateral chest radiographs

Abstract

Osteoporosis is one of the major public health concerns in the world. Several clinical trials indicated clearly that pharmacologic therapy for osteoporosis is effective for persons with vertebral fractures for preventing subsequent fractures. It is, therefore, important to diagnose vertebral fractures early. Although most vertebral fractures are asymptomatic, they can often be detected on lateral chest radiographs which may be obtained for other purposes. However, investigators have reported that vertebral fractures which were visible on lateral chest radiographs were underdiagnosed or underreported. Therefore, our purpose in this study was to develop a computerized method for detection of vertebral fractures on lateral chest radiographs and to assist radiologists' image interpretation. Our computerized scheme is based on the detection of upper and lower edges of vertebrae on lateral chest images. A curved rectangular area which included a number of visible vertebrae was identified. This area was then straightened such that the upper and lower edges of the vertebrae were oriented horizontally. For detection of vertebral edges, line components were enhanced, and a multiple thresholding technique followed by image feature analysis was applied to the line enhanced image. Finally, vertebral heights determined from the detected vertebral edges were used for characterizing the shape of the vertebrae and for distinguishing fractured from normal vertebrae. Our preliminary results indicated that all of the severely fractured vertebrae in a small database were detected correctly by our computerized method.