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Vertebral rotation estimation from frontal X-rays using a quasi-automated pedicle detection method

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Abstract

Purpose

Measurement of vertebral axial rotation (VAR) is relevant for the assessment of scoliosis. Stokes method allows estimating VAR in frontal X-rays from the relative position of the pedicles and the vertebral body. This method requires identifying these landmarks for each vertebral level, which is time-consuming. In this work, a quasi-automated method for pedicle detection and VAR estimation was proposed.

Method

A total of 149 healthy and adolescent idiopathic scoliotic (AIS) subjects were included in this retrospective study. Their frontal X-rays were collected from multiple sites and manually annotated to identify the spinal midline and pedicle positions. Then, an automated pedicle detector was developed based on image analysis, machine learning and fast manual identification of a few landmarks. VARs were calculated using the Stokes method in a validation dataset of 11 healthy (age 6–33 years) and 46 AIS subjects (age 6–16 years, Cobb 10°–46°), both from detected pedicles and those manually annotated to compare them. Sensitivity of pedicle location to the manual inputs was quantified on 20 scoliotic subjects, using 10 perturbed versions of the manual inputs.

Results

Pedicles centers were localized with a precision of 84% and mean difference of 1.2 ± 1.2 mm, when comparing with manual identification. Comparison of VAR values between automated and manual pedicle localization yielded a signed difference of − 0.2 ± 3.4°. The uncertainty on pedicle location was smaller than 2 mm along each image axis.

Conclusion

The proposed method allowed calculating VAR values in frontal radiographs with minimal user intervention and robust quasi-automated pedicle localization.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the ParisTech BiomecAM chair program on subject-specific musculoskeletal modeling for funding (with the support of ParisTech and Yves Cotrel Foundations, Société Générale, Proteor and Covea).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Biomécanique Humaine Georges Charpak, Arts et Métiers Institute of Technology, Paris, France

    Shahin Ebrahimi, Laurent Gajny, Claudio Vergari & Wafa Skalli

  2. LTCI, Department Image-Data-Signal, Telecom ParisTech, Paris, France

    Elsa D. Angelini

  3. ITMAT Data Science Group, NIHR Imperial BRC, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Elsa D. Angelini

Authors
  1. Shahin Ebrahimi
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  2. Laurent Gajny
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  3. Claudio Vergari
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  4. Elsa D. Angelini
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  5. Wafa Skalli
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Correspondence to Laurent Gajny.

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Ebrahimi, S., Gajny, L., Vergari, C. et al. Vertebral rotation estimation from frontal X-rays using a quasi-automated pedicle detection method. Eur Spine J 28, 3026–3034 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-019-06158-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-019-06158-z

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