Patent ID: 6560474
Filing Date: 2003-05-06
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
A method for evaluating a structural strength of cancellous bone, comprising the steps of:(a) acquiring an x-ray bone image and defining a region of interest on the x-ray bone image; (b) extracting a bone trabecular pattern in the region of interest; and (c) setting an index of a structural strength of a cancellous bone using an area density of the bone trabecular pattern, wherein said step (b) includes the steps of: (b1) assigning a multiplicity of sub-blocks each of which having a predetermined number of pixels, wherein each of the multiplicity of sub-blocks is allowed to be overlapped with each other within the region of interest; (b2) in each sub-block, selecting a fixed fraction of pixels in the descending order starting from a pixel with the highest brightness; and (b3) defining the bone trabecular pattern as a collection of pixels, which are selected at the step (b2) at least one time.