Abstract
Although accurate information on thoracolumbar bone structure is essential when computed tomography (CT) images are examined, there is no automated method of labeling all the vertebrae and ribs on a CT scan. We are developing a computer-aided diagnosis system that labels ribs and thoracolumbar vertebrae automatically and have evaluated its accuracy. A candidate bone was extracted from the CT image volume data by pixel thresholding and connectivity analysis. All non-bony anatomical structures were removed using a linear discriminate of distribution of CT values and anatomical characteristics. The vertebrae were separated from the ribs on the basis of their distances from the centers of the vertebral bodies. Finally, the thoracic cage and lumbar vertebrae were extracted, and each vertebra was labeled with its own anatomical number by histogram analysis along the craniocaudal midline. The ribs were labeled in a similar manner, based on location data. Twenty-three cases were used for accuracy comparison between our method and the radiologist’s. The automated labeling of the thoracolumbar vertebrae was concordant with the judgments of the radiologist in all cases, and all but the first and second ribs were labeled correctly. These two ribs were frequently misidentified, presumably because of pericostal anatomical clutter or high densities of contrast material in the injected veins. We are confident that this system can contribute usefully as part of a picture archiving and communication system workstation, though further technical improvement is required for identification of the upper ribs.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bhalla M, McCauley DI, Golimbu C, Leitman BS, Naidich DP: Counting ribs on chest CT. J Comput Assist Tomogr 14:590–594, 1990
Kim JS, Im J, Cho S, Lee SK, Park KS, Kim DY: Rib counting on CT using the sternal approach. J Comput Assist Tomogr 17:358–362, 1993
Kurihara Y, Nakajima Y, Ishikawa T, Galvin JR: Counting ribs on chest CT scans: the easiest way (letter). AJR Am J Roentgenol 165:487, 1995
Naegel B: Using mathematical morphology for the anatomical labeling of vertebrae from 3D CT-scan images. Comput Med Imaging Graph 31:141–156, 2007
Staal J, van Ginneken B, Viergever MA: Automatic rib segmentation and labeling in computed tomography scans using a general framework for detection, recognition and segmentation of objects in volumetric data. Med Image Anal 11:35–46, 2007
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Mr. C. W. P. Reynolds for his careful correction of this manuscript and Yoshiyuki Moriya BS and Akihito Igarashi BS for their technical support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This work has not been supported by any source of funding or financial interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Furuhashi, S., Abe, K., Takahashi, M. et al. A Computer-Assisted System for Diagnostic Workstations: Automated Bone Labeling for CT Images. J Digit Imaging 22, 689–695 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10278-008-9162-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10278-008-9162-8