Algorithm of Definition of Mutual Arrangement of L1–L5 Vertebrae on X-ray Images

Abstract

When diagnosing osteochondrosis it is important to determine geometrical parameters and mutual arrangement of vertebrae. We propose an algorithm for partial automatization of the localization of the vertebrae on X-ray images of lumbar spine and their following parametrization. The algorithm is a combination of different approaches. To localize positions of the vertebrae on the image, we use the method of a sliding window with fixed size and a convolution neural network as a classificator. The following processing of the localized segments of the images with vertebrae consists of removing noise, restoration, correction, and parametrization, which we perform using the library of computer vision OpenCV.