Quantitative features of digitized radiographic bone profiles

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the use of four image features in describing digitized radiographic bony scan lines, or profiles. These features include the mean pixel intensity, I(x) ; pixel intensity variance, var I (x); mean absolute Fourier transform coefficient, | F(u)| ; and mean spatial first moment of the absolute Fourier coefficients, M 1. In an animal model I(x) and M 1 differed significantly while | F(u)| tended to differ significantly between digitized radiographic profiles of osteoporotic (n = 6) and control (n = 6) rabbit humeri. Case examples illustrating the application of this technique to digitized radiographs of human interproximal alveolar bone are presented.