Knee joint menisci visualization and detection of tears by image processing

The medial and lateral meniscus of the knee is a crescent shaped cartilage pad between the femur and the tibia bones of knee joint. The meniscus acts as a smooth surface for the joint to move on. It helps in distributing forces of weight on joint surfaces and provides stability by preventing lateral movement of the knee joint. In osteoarthritis (OA) knee joints menisci undergoes degeneration. In sports knee injuries result in menisci tears. The Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with low field strength (1.5-T) and high field strength (3.0-T) are used for diagnosis and treatment of menisci pathologies. Image processing techniques are used in visualization and detection of menisci tears. In the present work, knee MR Images in sagittal, coronal and axial views are processed for visualization of menisci and detection of menisci tears using thresholding and Canny edge detection approaches. The method segments femur, tibia, cartilage and menisci. Thickness of menisci is plotted and the processing steps are extended for detection of menisci tears.