Vertebral Fracture Assessment and Classification using Imaging Techniques – An Overview

Vertebral fracture is the most common type of fragility fracture, even these are not clinically apparent. It is now recognized that they are associated with increased risk of future fracture, increased morbidity, and increased mortality. Vertebral fractures are common osteoporotic fractures, but current quantitative detection methods (morphometry) lack specificity. Vertebral fracture assessment is a method for imaging the spine by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry to diagnose vertebral fractures. Vertebral fracture assessment exposes the patient to less radiation than conventional spine radiographs, with lower cost and greater convenience. Vertebrae were first classified by radiologists for vertebral fractures and differentiate them from other causes of vertebral deformities. The mild deformities are diagnosed. Fractured vertebrae were graded. AAM was used to provide a semi-automatic segmentation. The resulting segmentations were used for the classification algorithm. Classifier‟s measure of the fracture likelihood estimate was found. Statistical comparisons were done between the classifiers.