International Business Machines Corporation
SPINAL FRACTURE DETECTION IN X-RAY IMAGES

Abstract:

Methods and systems for detecting a vertebral fracture within an x-ray. One method includes receiving a chest x-ray image and identifying a plurality of vertebrae represented in the chest x-ray image. The method further includes extracting a plurality of image patches from the chest x-ray image, each image patch of the plurality of image patches including a portion of the chest x-ray image representing one of the plurality of vertebrae identified in the chest x-ray image. The method further includes sequencing the plurality of image patches into an ordered sequence of image patches, and assigning, with a deep learning model applied to the ordered sequence of image patches, a classification to each of the plurality of image patches indicating whether the image patch represents a fractured vertebra or an unfractured vertebra.