The shape language in application to the diagnosis of cervical vertebrae pathology.

Ming Dao,Marzena Bielecka,Mariusz Korkosz,Rafał Obuchowicz

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0204546

Ming Dao, Marzena Bielecka + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0204546

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Oct 11, 2018
Citations: 9	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: AGH University of Krakow, Jagiellonian University

Abstract

In this paper the possibility of classification of X-ray images of the cervical vertebrae is studied. The images should be classified into one of the following classes—the images of healthy vertebrae and the images of vertebrae with syndesmophytes. The vertebra contours, described unambiguously by using the generalized shape language, are the basis of the analysis. As a result, the contour is represented as a chain of sinquads that determine switches. The found switches are the characteristic points of the analyzed contour. In these points additional features of the contour are determined. On the basis of these features two aforementioned classes of images are defined as fuzzy sets. Such an approach allows us to create a hierarchical algorithm of classification based on the syntactic and fuzzy description of the contour.

Highlights

In recent years the number of medical examinations which consist in analyzing X-ray images of bones has increased rapidly [1]
We focus on analyzing a single vertebra contour in order to detect the pathological changes in bones such as osteophytes and syndesmophytes and to create a tool which allows us to assess the progress of the disease
It should be mentioned that the method is analogous to the method that was applied by the authors to the analysis of contours of finger bones—see [11, 12, 15] and, first of all, [13]

Summary

Introduction

In recent years the number of medical examinations which consist in analyzing X-ray images of bones has increased rapidly [1]. It should be mentioned that the width of joints is analyzed as well, and this topic has been worked out relatively well [2,3,4,5,6]. Both the aforementioned aspects of bone images analysis provide crucial pieces of information about pathological changes and, as a consequence, play an important role in diagnosis and assessment of the disease progress—see the section for more details. The following topics are studied: Data Availability Statement: All X-Ray images of spine are available from the OSF database (DOI 10. 17605/OSF.IO/DAWYB)

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