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US 5,850,836 AGranted
Morphometric x-ray absorptiometry (MXA)
AssigneeHologic, Inc.
InventorsPeter Steiger, Howard P. Weiss
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
MXA Scan analysis in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention can be viewed as a process of placing points on the lateral morphometry image at the anterior, mid, and posterior positions of the inferior and superior endpoints for each vertebral body in the spinal region of interest. These point locations are then used to calculate the anterior, mid, and posterior heights of the vertebral bodies. These heights are then compared to one another and to known normal values for the heights and ratios of the heights for each vertebral body and among vertebral bodies to quantify the degree of vertebral deformity.
Claims15
A method for vertebral morphometry 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 radiation 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 of the radiation 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.
3 more elements
A method for vertebral morphetry comprising the steps of:
- imaging a patient to obtain paired vertebral AP (anterior/posterior or posterior/anterior) and lateral scans, at least one of said AP and lateral scans being obtained by imaging the patient with penetrating radiation energy;
- and
- utilizing said paired scans to carry out computer-assisted vertebral morphometric analysis comprising manual designation by an operator of the locations of at least a plurality of morphometrically significant points on a lateral image resulting from said lateral scan.
A morphometric method comprising the steps of:
- imaging a patient to obtain paired AP (anterior/posterior or posterior/anterior) and lateral scan images, at least one of said paired images being obtained with penetrating radiation energy;
- and
- utilizing said paired images to determine a curve connecting anterior points of the lateral vertebral image and to derive a Kyphosis index related to the ratio of a deviation of the thoracic curve from a line connecting the lower anterior point of vertebrae T4 (thoracic 4 ) and L4 (lumbar 4 ) and the distance from the lower anterior point of vertebra T4 and the intersection of the curve with a polynomial fit.
A system for vertebral morphometry comprising:
- a bone densitometer imaging a patient to obtain paired AP (anterior/posterior or posterior/anterior) and lateral scan vertebral images, at least one of the paired images being obtained with penetrating radiation energy;
- a display for side-by-side display of said images showing spatially synchronized movable cursors pointing at all times at anatomically corresponding portions of the AP and lateral images to help identify vertebrae and to help visualize spatial relationships of anatomy and pathology between said AP and lateral images which are displayed side-by-side;
- and
- a processor coupled with the display and responsive to the designation of points on the lateral image, including the manual designation and/or confirmation of points by an operator, to carry out vertebral morphometric analysis.
1 more element
A vertebral morphometry method comprising the steps of:
- imaging a patient with penetrating radiation to obtain paired vertebral AP (anterior/posterior or posterior/anterior) and lateral scan images;
- displaying said images side-by-side together with a pair of spatially synchronized cursors pointing to respective spatially corresponding points on said AP and lateral images to help identify vertebrae and visualize said spatial relationships of anatomy and pathology between said AP and lateral images which are displayed side-by-side;
- utilizing the displayed images and said synchronized cursors to carry out computer-assisted vertebral morphometric analysis by placing markers on predetermined points on said displayed images to mark predetermined points on one or more of the vertebral, wherein the markers are initially placed by computer-assisted suggestion based on knowledge of vertebral anatomy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.