Volume computation for tomographic images in assessing polyethylene wear and pelvic osteolysis after total hip arthroplasty using a 3-D image reconstruction-related method

Joint arthroplasty is a very common procedure performed for treatment of end-stage arthropathy. The primary obstacle limiting the longevity of total joint arthroplasty is polyethylene wear and many different problems are resulted from it. It is essential to develop a more sophisticated, handy technique for orthopedists to identify and quantify the amount of wear and osteolysis. Various radiographic diagnostic methods have been proposed to assess the amount of polyethylene wear and the size and location of the pelvic osteolytic lesion. However, most of them are semiautomatic and lack a precise computation for wear volume. We developed an effective approach to volume computation for tomographic images in assessing polyethylene wear and pelvic osteolysis after total hip arthroplasty. It includes automatic edge detection and volume computation using a 3-D image reconstuction-related method. The tests were performed with 80 sets of tomographic images and compared with the ground truth generated by humans. Very positive results were obtained.