Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal University, Manipal, 576 104, India.
J Digit Imaging. 2012 Feb;25(1):155-61. doi: 10.1007/s10278-011-9394-x.
Scoliosis is a 3-D deformity of spinal column, characterized by both lateral curvature and vertebral rotation. The disease can be caused by congenital, developmental, or degenerative problems; but most cases of scoliosis actually have no known cause, and this is known as idiopathic scoliosis. Vertebral rotation has become increasingly prominent in the study of scoliosis and the most deformed vertebra is named as apical vertebra. Apical vertebral deformity demonstrates significance in both preoperative and postoperative assessment, providing better appreciation of the impact of bracing or surgical interventions. Precise measurement of apical vertebral rotation in terms of grading is most valuable for the determination of reference value in normal and pathological conditions for better understanding of scoliosis. Routine quantitative evaluation of vertebral rotation is difficult and error prone due to limitations of observer characteristic and specific imaging property. This paper proposes automatic identification of the apical vertebra and its parameter that depends on the objective criteria of measurement using active contour models. The proposed technique is more accurate and is a reliable measurement compared to manual and computer-assisted system.
脊柱侧凸是脊柱的三维畸形，其特征是既有侧向弯曲又有椎体旋转。这种疾病可能由先天性、发育性或退行性问题引起；但大多数脊柱侧凸病例实际上没有已知的原因，这种情况被称为特发性脊柱侧凸。椎体旋转在脊柱侧凸的研究中变得越来越重要，最畸形的椎体被命名为顶椎。顶椎畸形在术前和术后评估中都具有重要意义，它可以更好地了解支具或手术干预的影响。在分级方面对顶椎旋转进行精确测量对确定正常和病理条件下的参考值最有价值，有助于更好地了解脊柱侧凸。由于观察者特征和特定成像特性的限制，椎体旋转的常规定量评估既困难又容易出错。本文提出了一种基于主动轮廓模型的、基于客观测量标准的自动识别顶椎及其参数的方法。与手动和计算机辅助系统相比，该技术更准确，是一种可靠的测量方法。
