A Novel Method VESTAL to Label Lumber Vertebrae and Intervertebral Discs

Abstract

This paper presents a novel method Vertebrae Statistics description Algorithm (VESTAL) to label lumber vertebrae and intervertebral discs (IVDs). Each vertebra and IVD has certain statistical features and properties. To label vertebrae and IVDs, a new equation to model the path of spinal cord is derived using statistical properties of the spinal canal. VESTAL uses this equation for labelling Lumber vertebrae and IVDs by determining both posterior, interior width and heights. The calculated values are compared with real values which are measured using scale and the comparison produced 95 % efficiency and accuracy in results. The VESTAL is applied on 50 patients, 250 MR images and obtained 96% accuracy in labelling.