Automatic vertebra detection in x-ray images.

In this paper we will describe our experiments with x-ray image analysis for vertebra detection in juvenile/adolescent patients with idiopathic scoliotic spines. We will focus on detecting vertebrae location in a anterior-posterior x-ray image in a fully automatic way. For accomplishing this, we propose a set of techniques for (i) isolating the spine by removing other bone structures (e.g. ribs), (ii) detecting vertebrae location along the spine using an hierarchical and progressive threshold analysis, and (iii) detecting vertebrae lateral boundaries.