Automatic detection System for Degenerative Disk and simulation for artificial disc replacement surgery in the spine

Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision in Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review

Chronic Low Back Pain (LBP) is a symptom that may be caused by several diseases, and it is currently the leading cause of disability worldwide. The increased amount of digital images in orthopaedics has led to the development of methods related to artificial intelligence, and to computer vision in particular, which aim to improve diagnosis and treatment of LBP. In this manuscript, we have systematically reviewed the available literature on the use of computer vision in the diagnosis and treatment of LBP. A systematic research of PubMed electronic database was performed. The search strategy was set as the combinations of the following keywords: "Artificial Intelligence", "Feature Extraction", "Segmentation", "Computer Vision", "Machine Learning", "Deep Learning", "Neural Network", "Low Back Pain", "Lumbar". Results: The search returned a total of 558 articles. After careful evaluation of the abstracts, 358 were excluded, whereas 124 papers were excluded after full-text examination, taking the number of eligible articles to 76. The main applications of computer vision in LBP include feature extraction and segmentation, which are usually followed by further tasks. Most recent methods use deep learning models rather than digital image processing techniques. The best performing methods for segmentation of vertebrae, intervertebral discs, spinal canal and lumbar muscles achieve Sørensen-Dice scores greater than 90%, whereas studies focusing on localization and identification of structures collectively showed an accuracy greater than 80%. Future advances in artificial intelligence are expected to increase systems' autonomy and reliability, thus providing even more effective tools for the diagnosis and treatment of LBP.

Machine learning-based approach for segmentation of intervertebral disc degeneration from lumbar section of spine using MRI images

Objectives

Intervertebral disc segmentation is one of the methods to diagnose spinal disease through the degeneration in asymptomatic and symptomatic patients. Even though numerous intervertebral disc segmentation techniques are available, classifying the grades in the intervertebral disc is a hectic challenge in the existing disc segmentation methods. Thus, an effective Whale Spine-Generative Adversarial Network (WSpine-GAN) method is proposed to segment the intervertebral disc for effective grade classification.

Methods

The proposed WSpine-GAN method effectively performs the disc segmentation, wherein the weights of Spine-GAN are optimally tuned using Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA). Then, the refined disc features, such as pixel-based features and the connectivity features are extracted. Finally, the K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) classifier based on the pfirrmann’s grading system performs the grade classification.

Results

The implementation of the grade classification strategy based on the proposed WSpine-GAN and KNN is performed using the real-time database, and the performance based on the metrics yielded the accuracy, true positive rate (TPR), and false positive rate (FPR) values of 97.778, 97.83, and 0.586% for the training percentage and 92.382, 90.580, and 1.972% for the K-fold value.

Conclusions

The proposed WSpine-GAN method effectively performs the disc segmentation by integrating the Spine-GANmethod and WOA. Here, the spinal cord images are segmented using the proposed WSpine-GAN method by tuning the weights optimally to enhance the performance of the disc segmentation.