Texture analysis of hand radiographs to assess bone structure

摘要

In this study we compared trabecular bone mineral density (BMD) with textural parameters (cooccurence matrices features) extracted from trabecular bone structures in radiographic images of the hand. Our data consists of 12 cadaver hands radiographed and digitized. After application of a specific preprocessing step on all images, the textural parameters were calculated within 4 regions of interest defined within the metacarpal and proximal phalanges on trabecular bone. The results show that using a combination of textural parameters calculated at different directions within the ROI could increase significantly the correlation with BMD. Some further research will validate this finding on a larger set of data. This work is intended to be applicable in the study of bone fractures associated with osteoporosis, and could be of great benefit to a large segment of the population at risk.