Automatic Derivation of Scan Plane Angles Along the Vertebral Column of the Human Spine

Anand Narasimhamurthy¹, Akshay Pai¹, Vivek Vaidya², Uday Patil¹

In this work, a methodology for automated planning of oblique axial MRI scans along the vertebral column, using a combined disk and vertebra search algorithm is presented. Cervical, thoracic and lumbar examinations are considered. The validation was done comparing angulations computed automatically by the algorithm with those made by a radiologist. In all sections of spine considered, the average angulation difference was less than 5 degrees, thus demonstrating the robustness of the proposed method.