Patent ID: 7127281

Claim:
A method of performing an axial imaging study for the purpose of measuring axial rotation of a patient's spine, comprising the steps of: (1) obtaining a set of axial images of vertebrae of the spine in a first orientation of axial rotation, the axial images being in a plane crossing a longitudinal axis of the spine; (2) rotating the spine axially about the longitudinal axis of the spine to a second orientation of axial rotation; (3) obtaining a second set of axial images of the vertebrae of the spine in the second orientation of axial rotation, the axial images being in a plane crossing a longitudinal axis of the spine; (4) processing the first and second set of axial images on an electronic computer according to a stored program to: (i) determine the relative rotation of corresponding images of the first and second set of axial images; and (ii) displaying the amount of relative rotation as related to the vertebrae.