图像处理技术在脊柱侧弯检查中的应用

Application of Image Processing Technique in Scoliosis Detection

脊柱侧弯是指脊柱偏离其中心线的畸形生长,是一种常发生在青少年人群中的特发性疾病。本文通过对现有的脊柱侧弯检查方法的分析,指出了利用图像处理技术对青少年脊柱侧弯检测的优越性。主要介绍了两类脊柱侧弯检测的图像处理方法:一类为提取莫尔图像的非对称特征,将其与Cobb角相联系进行检测;另一类为利用不同的光学成像方法对人体背部进行三维重建,然后根据提取的三维特征对脊柱侧弯进行检测。两类方法的相似点在于都涉及到人体背部的对称性的判别问题。最后,对图像处理技术在脊柱侧弯方面的进一步应用做了展望。

Scoliosis, the abnormal lateral curvature of the spine, is an idiopathic disease often suffered by teenagers. Normally medical doctors use X-rays to measure the Cobb angle, and then assess the severity of scoliosis with it. In this paper, we point out the superiorities of image processing technique through analyzing the existing methods in the diagnosis of scoliosis. Two kinds of image processing technique are mainly introduced for scoliosis detection. The moirfi stripe images show an asymmetric deformation pattern between the left-hand side and the right-hand side of hu- man back, and these associate with Cobb angle to detect scoliosis. In order to check scoliosis through accurate three- dimensional surface features of human back, we in the second technique use different optical imaging methods to re- construct the three-dimensional surface model of the patient＇s back, and extract the characteristics of the reconstruc- tive human back to diagnose the disease. Both approaches tried to describe symmetry discrimination of human back and correlated it with the Cobb angles. Finally, we look forward to the future development in the application of im- age processing technique for scoliosis detection.