Patent Document ID: 5483960
Application ID: 08176418
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method comprising the steps of: obtaining paired AP (anterior/posterior or posterior/anterior) centerline and lateral morphometry images of a patient covering at least the T4 (thoracic 4) through L4 (lumbar 4) vertebrae by using a fan beam bone densitometer to carry out an AP scan and a lateral scan without moving the patient between the scans, wherein said AP scan is carried out first to produce an AP image which is analyzed to determine the centerline of the patient's vertebral column and said centerline is used to maintain a constant distance between the centerline and an origin on the fan beam while carrying out the lateral scan; displaying the paired AP image and the lateral image side-by-side together with a pair of spatially synchronized cursors pointing to anatomically corresponding current locations on both images to help identify vertebrae and visualize spatial relationships of anatomy and pathology between said AP and lateral images which are displayed side-by-side; designating six points for each vertebra with said cursor; calculating posterior, mid- and anterior vertebral heights and vertebral wedge indices with the use of points designated in the designating step; and displaying calculated heights and indices characterizing the patient.