Computerised image analysis of changes in bone architecture in arthritic disease
Neilson, Matthew McArthur (2001) Computerised image analysis of changes in bone architecture in arthritic disease. MSc(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.
The development of computerised image analysis techniques with modern microscopy has allowed for more diversity in methods of collecting and collating quantitative data from biological material. This project is concerned with the development of computerised image analysis techniques, developed on the Kontron VIDAS image analyser, used to extract morphometric information from osteoarthritic bone specimens. The study also investigates and quantifies bias and random error, the effects of magnification, scaling, focusing, thresholding and inter- and intra-user variability, when developing an image analysis macro. Osteoarthritis of the human hip results in bony changes within the femoral head and neck in both force-transmitting and non-force-transmitting regions. Image analysis macro programs were written to help quantify these changes. Separate macros were necessary to quantify the distribution in both the femoral head and neck. Five osteoarthritic hips were obtained from patients undergoing total hip replacement and five control hips were obtained from dissecting room subjects. The femoral head macro measured the area of intertrabecular spaces within each of four divisions of a region of interest taken from a photograph of a dried coronal slice of the femoral head. The femoral neck macro was used to measure the distribution of cortical and medullary bone in van Gieson-stained transverse sections through the upper femoral neck. The neck macro attempted to automate the process as much as possible. The distribution of bone was measured by implementing an automated method in which the computer divided the cortex into 12 sectors. The medullary bone was automatically divided into 25 sectors. The sectors were created by radiating lines plotted from a centroid at 30
Thesis (MSc(R))
Adviser: Stuart McDonald
Biomedical engineering, Computer science, Medical imaging