Fluoroscopic image processing for computer-aided orthopaedic surgery

Z. Yaniv (1), L. Joskowicz (1), A. Simkin (2), M. Garza-Jinich (3), 
C. Milgrom (4) 


(1) Institute of Computer Science, The Hebrew Univ., Jerusalem 91904 Israel
(2) Lab. of Experimental Surgery, Hadassah Univ. Hospital, Jerusalem 91120 Israel.
(3) IIMAS -- Univ. Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, AP 20-726, Mexico 01000 DF.
(4) Dept. of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hadassah Univ. Hospital, Jerusalem 91120 Israel.

Abstract: 

This paper describes the fluoroscopic X-ray image processing techniques of
FRACAS, a computer-integrated orthopaedic system for bone fracture
reduction.  Fluoroscopic image processing consists of image dewarping,
camera calibration, and bone contour extraction.  Our approach focuses on
bone imaging and emphasizes integration, full automation, simplicity,
robustness, and practicality.  We describe the experimental setup and
report results quantifying the accuracy of our methods.  We show that after
dewarping and calibration, submillimetric spatial positioning accuracy is
achievable with standard equipment.  We present a new bone contour
segmentation algorithm based on robust image region statistics computation
which yields good results on clinical images.  

Keywords: fluoroscopic X-ray image processing, bone fracture reduction

Published in: 1st Int. Conf. on Medical Computing and Computer-Assisted
Intervention, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1496, Elsevier, Wells
et. al. editors, 1998, pp. 325-334. \