Patent ID: 7046834

Claim:
A method for measuring a bone mineral density, by use of an x-ray image, in a bone mineral density measuring system, comprising the steps of: (a) obtaining an X-ray image of bone; (b) setting a region of interest on the obtained X-ray image of bone; (c) calculating a background trend due to soft tissues, at a bone portion within the set region of interest; (d) removing the background trend from a gray-level of each pixel at the bone portion; (e) calculating an average value (<G>) of gray-level values at the bone portion after the background trend is removed; (f) calculating a weighted average (P) of the bone widths within the region of interest; and (g) calculating an index of the bone mineral density by adding a value of the weighted average (P) multiplied by a specific constant (c 0 ) to the average value (<G>), at the bone portion within the set region of interest.