Recognition of bones from X-rays of the hand†

Algorithms for the computer recognition of bones in an X-ray of the hand and wrist are described by analysing age-related changes that take place with growth in the bones. Since a straightforward structural description is inadequate because of these changes, the paper considers a shape description technique based on linear measurements (axial length, width and location) from a polygonal approximation of the bones. The recognition algorithm also needs strong a priori knowledge of the structure of the hand. System effectiveness is demonstrated on some sections of two typical X-rays of 10–12-year-old boys when histogram equalization, thresholding and edge detection, and octal code generation techniques are included in the preprocessing algorithm.