Arch Development Corporation

Chunsheng Jiang

Maryellen L Giger

Michael R Chinander

An automated method, storage medium, and system for analyzing bone. Digital image data corresponding to an image of the bone are obtained. Next there is determined, based on the digital images, a measure of bone mineral density (BMD) and at least one of a measure of bone geometry, a Minkowski dimension, and a trabecular orientation. The strength of the bone is estimated based upon the measure of BMD and at least one of the measure of bone geometry, the Minkowski dimension, and the trabecular orientation. To improve bone texture analysis, the present invention also provides a novel automated method, storage medium, and system in which digital image data corresponding to an image of the bone is obtained, and a region of interest (ROI) is selected within the bone. A fractal characteristic of the image data within the ROI using an artificial neural network is extracted. The strength of the bone is estimated based at least in part on the extracted fractal characteristic. To perform bone analysis with an improved measure of bone mineral density, the present invention also provides a novel automated method, storage medium, and system in which digital image data corresponding to an image of the bone is obtained. A measure of normalized bone mineral density (BMD) corresponding to a volumetric bone mineral density of the bone is determined, and the strength of the bone based is estimated based at least in part on the normalized BMD.

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Naperville, IL, United States of America

Chunsheng Jiang