These authors presented an automatic computer-based method for morphological feature segmentation and recognition for thoracic and lumbar human vertebrae in a previous paper. The method analyses high-density discretized models by segmentation and recognition rules codifying the vertebra morphology information, which does not change between different subjects. The methodology has been demonstrated to be valid and repeatable in segmenting and recognizing morphological features of vertebrae. The proposed one gives repeatable and reproducible results concerning the traditional manual methods. Nonetheless, the method has been tested only on human lumbar and thoracic vertebrae without distinctive pathologies. This paper aims to extend this methodology for much wider use by analyzing single vertebrae affected by common defectiveness in archaeological and medical fields. The results of the experimentations, analyzed by a skilled anthropologist and radiologist, show that the method correctly segments the analyzed morphological features, also for thoracic and lumbar vertebrae with defectiveness: in particular, defects that alter the shape of features or the symmetry of the vertebra, determine the absence of a feature, or heavily change the spatial distribution of the anterior part respect to the posterior one, have been analyzed.

The Morphological and Geometrical Segmentation of Human Thoracic and Lumbar Vertebrae: An Automatic Computer-Based Method

Di Angelo L.
;
Di Stefano P.;Guardiani E.
2023-01-01

Abstract

These authors presented an automatic computer-based method for morphological feature segmentation and recognition for thoracic and lumbar human vertebrae in a previous paper. The method analyses high-density discretized models by segmentation and recognition rules codifying the vertebra morphology information, which does not change between different subjects. The methodology has been demonstrated to be valid and repeatable in segmenting and recognizing morphological features of vertebrae. The proposed one gives repeatable and reproducible results concerning the traditional manual methods. Nonetheless, the method has been tested only on human lumbar and thoracic vertebrae without distinctive pathologies. This paper aims to extend this methodology for much wider use by analyzing single vertebrae affected by common defectiveness in archaeological and medical fields. The results of the experimentations, analyzed by a skilled anthropologist and radiologist, show that the method correctly segments the analyzed morphological features, also for thoracic and lumbar vertebrae with defectiveness: in particular, defects that alter the shape of features or the symmetry of the vertebra, determine the absence of a feature, or heavily change the spatial distribution of the anterior part respect to the posterior one, have been analyzed.
2023
978-3-031-15927-5
978-3-031-15928-2
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11697/196707
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