Digitised X-ray approach could improve osteoporosis diagnosis

Neelesh Kumar of the Central Scientific Instruments Organisation in Chandigarh, India, and colleagues have developed the approach founded on the digitisation of X-ray images and estimation of the bone porosity associated with osteoporosis based on computer algorithm.

According to a statement, X-rays are normally used for the diagnosis of osteoporosis when other more expensive or inconvenient tests such as dual X-ray absorptiometry are precluded.

X-ray examination usually confirms the diagnosis at the severe or late stage of development. However, a computerised system could allow much earlier diagnosis to be made and so give patients the opportunity to be treated more successfully before the disorder becomes a potentially debilitating illness.

The addition of a reference index to the X-ray image is said to be key to the success of the new computerised technique.

In conventional methods, the X-ray source quality, the film and its processing quality are possible sources of error, but in the new system these sources are all but removed by the digital index on the film, the team said.