Semi-Automatic Vertebra Segmentation

Most of the existing research in medical image segmentation has focused on magnetic resonance (MR) and computed tomography (CT). Much less work has been done in the segmentation of X-ray images. Nevertheless, medical specialists often examine X-rays images of spinal columns to determine the presence of abnormalities or dysfunctions and to analyse the vertebral mobility. To help them to establish a good diagnosis, there exist medical image processing and analysis applications to automate different tasks dealing with the interpretation of these images. In our work, we use X-ray image instead of other kinds of medical images like CT—computed tomography—or MR—magnetic resonance—in order to avoid the high level of radiation received by the patient in the case of magnetic resonance or computed tomography. Another reason is the large quantity of information to be acquired and AbstrAct