The present application relates to a method for detecting spinal deformity using three-dimensional ultrasound imaging.
In recent years, three-dimensional ultrasound imaging technology has been widely used in the measurement of human spinal deformity, such as scoliosis evaluation, and achieved good results. However, ultrasound can only obtain images at the posterior portion of the spine (i.e. from the back), so the images obtained mainly contain information about the transverse process, spinous process, and other spine bones at the posterior side. Because of the anatomical structure of the spine bone, when the main body of the spine bone has rotation, the structures obtained from the ultrasound image about the posterior portion of the spine bone will have a relatively large rotation distance, which greatly affects the measurement of spinal curvature. At the same time, in sagittal plane, the angle of anterio-posterioral curvature of spine will also be affected. This is also a deficiency between the measurement of spine curvature by ultrasound imaging and X-ray image detection. On the X-ray image, the information of the main body of the spine is detected, so the influence of rotation is relatively smaller, although the X-ray image itself cannot provide the measurement of rotation.
In order to solve the above problems, the application discloses a new method for detecting spinal deformity using three-dimensional ultrasound imaging, which uses the information about the rotation of spine obtained in three-dimensional ultrasound scanning to adjust the three-dimensional ultrasound image of spine, thus greatly reducing the error of deformity measurement in the coronal plane and sagittal plane, and can effectively calculate the rotation angle of spine.
To achieve the above purpose, the technical scheme adopted by the application is as follows:
A method for detecting spinal deformity using three-dimensional ultrasound imaging, wherein, comprising the following steps:
S1. obtaining a three-dimensional image of a spine by a three-dimensional ultrasound imaging system;
S2. obtaining axial rotation information of the spine through the three-dimensional image of the spine;
S3. using the axial rotation information of the spine to adjust the three-dimensional image of the spine;
S4. projecting the adjusted three-dimensional image of the spine after projecting on a coronal and/or sagittal plane to obtain a projection of the coronal and/or sagittal plane;
S5. calculating the spinal deformity data by the projection of the coronal or sagittal plane.
As preferred, the axial rotation information of the spine is obtained from rotation data of each two-dimensional ultrasound image forming the three-dimensional image of the spine in the axial direction of the spine.
As preferred, the two-dimensional ultrasound image is obtained by scanning skin on the back of a human body vertically by an ultrasound probe.
As preferred, the axial rotation information of the spine is obtained from three-dimensional space information of symmetrical characteristic areas on the left and right sides of each spine bone in the two-dimensional ultrasound image that constitutes the three-dimensional image of the spine, including left and right transverse processes, left and right articular processes, left and right vertebral arches, left and right vertebral lamina.
As preferred, image adjustment refers to correcting the axial rotation information of each spine bone with a selected rotation axis in the axial direction of the spine according to the axial rotation information of the spine at a specific angle, rotating every two-dimensional ultrasound image at a specific angle with a selected rotation axis in the axial direction of the spine according to the axial rotation information of the spine to correct the axial rotation of every corresponding vertebral bone, which making the rotation of each vertebral bone in the axial direction relative to a reference position zero.
As preferred, the selected rotation axis refers to a rotation axis of the spine in axial rotation.
As preferred, the selected rotation axis refers to an axial centerline of a vertebral body of the spine.
As preferred, a distance from the selected rotation axis to a body surface in the two-dimensional ultrasound image is obtained by analyzing a spine X-ray image, a CT image, or a magnetic resonance image of a subject in the same period.
As preferred, a transverse position of the selected rotation axis in the two-dimensional ultrasound image is determined by a position of an ultrasonic reflection signal of a spinous process or a position of an ultrasonic shadow area formed by the spinous process.
As preferred, a rotation amount of the specific angle is calculated by a relative distance between the position of an ultrasonic reflection of a spinous process and a position of the ultrasonic reflection of a vertebral body surface in the ultrasonic image and the distance between their projections on the coronal plane, and the ultrasonic reflection of the vertebral body surface is formed by an ultrasonic wave propagating to a surface of a vertebral body through a hole in the back of spine.
As preferred, the selected rotation axis is obtained by a preset formula about an age of the subject, a total length of the spine, and/or the size of each vertebral body, and a distance between the spinous process and the rotation axis.
As preferred, the size of the spine refers to a distance between left and right symmetrical feature points of the spine, or between the spinous process and other spine feature points or feature planes.
As preferred, the preset formula is obtained by counting the spine of a large number of people to obtain the size of each vertebral bone, the percentage of each vertebral bone in the total length of the spine, the correlation between the distance among feature points and height as well as age.
As preferred, following steps are also included between steps S3 and S4
S3-1. marking a position of the selected rotation axis in a corresponding two-dimensional ultrasound image, i.e. marking with points, circles, lines, and/or other distinctive marks.
As preferred, after step S5, comprising the following steps
S6. connecting positions of the selected rotation axis in all two-dimensional ultrasound images to form a three-dimensional curve, which contains deformity information of the spine on the coronal and sagittal planes.
As preferred, after step S5, comprising the following steps
S7. connecting positions of the selected rotation axis in all two-dimensional ultrasound images to form a three-dimensional curve and using a series of lines perpendicular to the three-dimensional curve to represent the axial rotation of the spine.
As preferred, after step S5, comprising the following steps:
S8. determining whether the axial rotation of the spine has reached preset correction requirements, and if not, repeat steps S2 to S5
As preferred, the correction requirements refer to that the projection of the position of the ultrasonic reflection of the spinous process in the three-dimensional ultrasound image and the projection of the position of ultrasound reflection on the surface of vertebral body on the coronal plane should be along the same line, and the ultrasonic reflection of the vertebral body surface is formed by an ultrasonic wave propagating to a surface of a vertebral body through a hole in the back of spine.
As preferred, between the steps S1 and S2, further comprising the following step:
S1-1. obtaining an axial rotation reference surface, which is a part of the human body that is relatively not easy to rotate and deform.
The beneficial effects of using the application are:
in the application the three-dimensional image is obtained through the three-dimensional ultrasound imaging system; the positions of the vertebral main body, the transverse process, and the spinous process are obtained through the three-dimensional image data; the three-dimensional image of the spine is adjusted by using the axial rotation information of the spine; after the adjustment, the projection of the predetermined plane can be made, and the rotation angle of the spine can be determined and calculated by the projection along the predetermined plane. This method can more accurately measure the deformity angle of spine in each plane.
The application will be described in detail below in combination with the accompanying drawings.
As shown in
The three-dimensional ultrasound image in the sagittal direction of the scanning contour is shown in
As shown in
The selected rotation axis can have multiple reference axes, and only one rotation axis can be selected in each measurement. In one embodiment, the selected rotation axis refers to a rotation axis of the spine in axial rotation. In one embodiment, the selected rotation axis refers to an axial centerline of vertebral bodies of the spine.
Understandably, a distance from the selected rotation axis to a body surface in the two-dimensional ultrasound image is obtained by analyzing a spine X-ray imaging, a CT image, or a magnetic resonance image of a subject collected in the same period. The selected rotation axis has synchronicity to ensure the accuracy of measurement data, and corresponds to the acquired two-dimensional ultrasound image.
In this embodiment, a transverse position of the selected rotation axis in the two-dimensional ultrasound image is determined by a position of an ultrasonic reflection signal of a spinous process or a position of an ultrasonic shadow area formed by the spinous process.
The axial rotation information of the spine is obtained from rotation data of each two-dimensional ultrasound image forming the three-dimensional image of the spine in the axial direction of the spine. In this embodiment, the rotation information of each two-dimensional image, i.e. the rotation information of the spine, can be determined by the rotation data of the two-dimensional image in the axial direction of the spine in
The axial rotation information of the spine is obtained from three-dimensional spatial information of areas with symmetrical features on the left and right sides of each vertebral bone in the two-dimensional ultrasound image that constitutes the three-dimensional image of the spine, including left and right transverse processes, left and right articular processes, left and right vertebral arches, left and right vertebral lamina. In the two-dimensional ultrasound image, reference
Specifically, as shown in
As shown in
Finally, the data of the spinal deformity is calculated by the position difference of the three-dimensional image features in the coronal and/or sagittal plane and the projection plane. The calculation method of the data of the spinal deformity in this embodiment is described in detail below.
As preferred, the characteristics of the three-dimensional image of spine are imported into the pre saved database, in which the three-dimensional image model is formed and displayed by the characteristics of the three-dimensional image of spine. As shown in
The rotation axis is obtained by a preset formula about an age of the subject, a total length of the spine, and/or the size of each vertebral bone and a distance between the spinous process and the rotation axis. The size of the spine refers to a distance between left and right symmetrical feature points of the spine, or between the spinous process and other spine feature points or feature planes. The preset formula is obtained by counting the spine of a large number of people to obtain the representing size of each vertebral bone, a percentage of each vertebral bone in the total length of the spine, the correlation between a distance among features points and the height as well as age.
The determination scheme of the rotation axis, i.e. the preset relationship, can match the position of the rotation axis with the different physiological characteristics of the examinee as much as possible.
As preferred, the three-dimensional image characteristics of the spine include the three-dimensional image features of the vertebral body of the spine and the spinous process/transverse process. Three-dimensional image features of spine include three-dimensional spatial position data and angle data. As shown in
In this embodiment, the reflected signal of the vertebral body surface of the spine can also be fused with the ultrasonic reflected signal of other parts, such as the spinous process, the transverse process and other parts, to measure the deformity and rotation of the spine in various planes.
If the spine is not rotated, the two will overlap in the same shape, but at different depths. In the case that the spine is rotated, the curved surface composed of the reflected signals of each spinous process has different angles with the curve composed of the reflected signals of the vertebral body surface of the spine bone. The angle of the curve formed by the spinous process is reduced because the displacement of the spinous process caused by rotation counteracts the movement caused by some portion of side bending.
A rotation size of the specific angle is calculated by a relative distance between a position of an ultrasonic reflection of a spinous process and a position of an ultrasonic reflection of a vertebral surface in the ultrasonic image and the distance between their projections on the coronal plane, and the ultrasonic reflection of the vertebral body surface is formed by an ultrasonic wave propagating to a surface of a vertebral body through a hole in the back of spine.
Project the three-dimensional image features of the main body of the spine and the three-dimensional image features of the spinous process/transverse process into the same plane. If the line of the projection of the main body of the spine is not overlapped with the line of the projection of the spinous process/transverse process, the spine is judged to have rotation. As shown in
As shown in
In
According to the depth of the hole between the spine and the surface of the body, the three-dimensional image features of the hole were modified. In addition, the method of calculating the rotation angle can also make some modifications, that is, to calculate the depth of the cavity, rather than the vertebral body surface of the spine, because the movement of the reflection area of the vertebral body surface of the spine actually comes from the movement of the hole.
Between steps S3 and S4, following steps are also included: S3-1. marking a position of the selected rotation axis in a corresponding two-dimensional ultrasound image, i.e. marking with points, circles, lines, and/or other distinctive marks.
After step S5, comprising the following steps S6. connecting positions of the selected rotation axis in all two-dimensional ultrasound images to form a three-dimensional curve, which contains deformity information of the spine on the coronal and sagittal planes, for example, obtaining the line simulating the central position of the spinous process, the transverse process and vertebral body of the spine. After step S5, comprising the following steps S7. connecting positions of the selected rotation axis in all two-dimensional ultrasound images to form a three-dimensional curve and using a series of lines perpendicular to the three-dimensional curve to represent the axial rotation of the spine. The axial rotation of the spine is determined, as shown in
After step S5, comprising the following steps: S8. determining whether the axial rotation of the spine has reached preset correction requirements, and if not, repeat steps S2 to S5, ensuring the accuracy of the measurement. If the correction requirements are not met, the ultrasonic image needs to be obtained repeatedly. The correction requirements refer to the minimization of the distance, i.e. along the same line, between the projection of the position of the ultrasonic reflection of the spinous process in the three-dimensional ultrasound image and the projection of the position of ultrasound reflection on the surface of vertebral body on the coronal plane, and the ultrasonic reflection of the vertebral surface is formed by an ultrasonic wave propagating to a surface of a vertebral body through a hole in the back of spine.
Between the steps S1 and S2, further comprising the following step: S1-1. obtaining an axial rotation reference surface, which is a part of the human body that is relatively not easy to rotate and deform. For example, the bottom of the back and the part near the hip are not easy to rotate.
The above content is only a preferred embodiment of the application. For those skilled in the art, according to the idea of the application, many changes can be made in the specific implementation mode and application scope. As long as these changes are not divorced from the concept of the application, they belong to the protection scope of the application.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
201710563513.7 | Jul 2017 | CN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/CN2018/094308 | 7/3/2018 | WO | 00 |