Segmentation of the metacarpus and phalange in musculoskeletal ultrasound images using local active contours

This work presents a method for the automatic segmentation of metacarpus and phalange bones in ultrasound images of the second metacarpophalangeal joint (MCPJ) using Active Contours. The MCPJ is known to be the one of the first structures to be affected by rheumatic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. The early detection and follow-up of this disease is important to prevent irreversible damage of the joints, which occurs continuously and faster if no treatment is used. To our knowledge, there is no automatic system to quantify the extension of the lesions resulting from rheumatic activity. The objective of this work is to identify the metacarpus and the phalange bones using local active contours. To our knowledge, there is no well established method for this problem and this technique has not been used yet in these structures. Results proved that the automatic segmentation is possible with an error of 3 pixels for a confidence of 80%.