US 11,672,471 B2
Osteoporosis diagnostic support apparatus
Hironobu Tsuji, Tokyo (JP); Yosuke Tsuji, Tokyo (JP); Tatsuro Hayashi, Tokyo (JP); Hiroshi Fujita, Gifu (JP); Takeshi Hara, Gifu (JP); Chisako Muramatsu, Gifu (JP); Kazuki Horiba, Gifu (JP); and Akitoshi Katsumata, Gifu (JP)
Assigned to Media Co., Ltd., Tokyo (JP); and Gifu University, Gifu (JP)
Filed by Media Co., Ltd., Tokyo (JP); and Gifu University, Gifu (JP)
Filed on Jun. 25, 2018, as Appl. No. 16/17,066.
Application 16/017,066 is a division of application No. 15/162,447, filed on May 23, 2016, granted, now 10,004,448.
Application 15/162,447 is a continuation in part of application No. PCT/JP2014/081056, filed on Nov. 25, 2014.
Claims priority of application No. 2013-242678 (JP), filed on Nov. 25, 2013.
Prior Publication US 2018/0303409 A1, Oct. 25, 2018
Int. Cl. A61B 5/00 (2006.01); A61B 6/00 (2006.01); G06T 7/12 (2017.01); G06T 7/149 (2017.01); G06T 7/62 (2017.01); G06T 7/00 (2017.01)
CPC A61B 5/4509 (2013.01) [A61B 5/0088 (2013.01); A61B 5/4542 (2013.01); A61B 5/7278 (2013.01); A61B 6/501 (2013.01); A61B 6/505 (2013.01); A61B 6/5217 (2013.01); G06T 7/0012 (2013.01); G06T 7/12 (2017.01); G06T 7/149 (2017.01); G06T 7/62 (2017.01); A61B 2576/02 (2013.01); G06T 2207/10116 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20036 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20116 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30008 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30036 (2013.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An osteoporosis diagnostic support apparatus comprising:
a contour extraction unit adapted to extract a mandibular contour from an image of a mandibular cortical bone photographed by a photographic apparatus adapted to photograph the mandibular cortical bone and surroundings thereof;
a line segment extraction unit adapted to extract line segments from the image of the mandibular cortical bone photographed by the photographic apparatus, where the line segments are formed by a gray level distribution and include line segments of the cortical bone and line segments of a coarsely structured portion; and
a mandibular cortical bone morphological index identification unit adapted to extract a feature value based on the extracted mandibular contour and line segments and identify a mandibular cortical bone morphological index as one of Types I, II, and III by determining a separating hyperplane with a maximized margin from the feature value, the Type I being characterized by smooth inside surfaces of the cortical bone on both sides, the Type II being characterized by irregular inside surfaces of the cortical bone and linear absorption being observed in a neighborhood of an inner side inside the cortical bone, and the Type III being characterized in that advanced linear absorption as well as fractures of the cortical bone are observed over the entire cortical bone,
wherein the feature value includes one or more of:
a feature value of the thickness of the cortical bone,
the number of pixels of line elements in a cortical bone region estimated to be dense when regions classified by density are estimated based on the extracted mandibular contour and line segments,
the number of pixels of line elements in a cortical bone region estimated to be coarse in the estimation of the regions classified by density,
area of the cortical bone region estimated to be coarse in the estimation of the regions classified by density,
a ratio of average concentration value of line elements between the cortical bone region estimated to be dense and the cortical bone region estimated to be coarse in the estimation of the regions classified by density,
variance of the cortical bone region estimated to be coarse in the estimation of the regions classified by density,
difference variance of the cortical bone region estimated to be coarse in the estimation of the regions classified by density,
difference entropy of the cortical bone region estimated to be coarse in the estimation of the regions classified by density,
inverse difference moment of all cortical bone regions estimated to be dense or coarse in the estimation of the regions classified by density,
difference entropy of all the cortical bone regions estimated to be dense or coarse in the estimation of the region classified by density, and
difference variance of all the cortical bone regions estimated to be dense or coarse in the estimation of the regions classified by density.