Measurement of knee joint space depth using image analysis methods

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Abstract

Precise measurement of the joint space is very important in diagnosis of osteoarthritis and for the evaluation of treatment results. Classical analysis of radiographs, due to brightness and contrast variation, unsharp object boundaries as well as "human factor", enables getting results with precision not more than 0.5-0.7 mm. This is not nearly sufficient for evaluating progress in the rate of disease or its treatment. In order to improve accuracy of knee joint depth measurements, a new procedure based on image analysis methods, has been developed and tested. Control tests on a series of 60 real radiographs have shown that the image analysis based procedure gives highly repeatable results that agree well with other independent examinations. The precision of measurements has been estimated at a minimum 0.2 mm. Thus, application of image analysis enables getting results with precision approx. 3 times higher than in classical measurements. The analysis does not require very costly equipment - it is enough to use a PC computer and image analysis software. Measurements are relatively quick - one image requires approx. 5 mins to be analysed, including grabbing the image by a CCD camera.

Om dit artikel te citeren:

Over : Leszek Wojnar

Over : Edward Czerwiński

Over : Janusz E. Badurski