Patent ID: 6640123
Filing Date: 2003-10-28
Classification: A61B,G01T

Abstract:
A method of examining a supine patient's spine in a lateral view with a bone densitometer, comprising:using a bone densitometer to scan a supine patient along the spine thereof with an x-ray detector that is at one lateral side of the patient and an x-ray source selectively emitting an x-ray beam from an opposite lateral side of the patent, said source and detector being aligned with each other during the scan, and to thereby generate x-ray measurements defining a lateral image of the supine patient's spine; operating a computer coupled with the x-ray detector to receive and process said x-ray measurements into a lateral projection image of the supine patient's spine; further operating the computer to identify points of interest in said lateral image; and still further operating the computer to determine sizes of skeletal features of the supine patient's spine based at least in part on the identified points of interest.