We have developed a visualization environment, CEPH, for the analysis of plain film, biothogonally registered, head x-rays, i.e., cephalograms. Most importantly this program facilitates the collection of 3D landmark data from biorthogonal cephalogram pairs, i.e., correlated frontal and lateral images. To this end we have implemented tools for: contrast enhancement, image compression, morphological feature extraction, and grayscale shape recognition for automatic landmark detection. These data are useful for clinical craniofacial: (1) diagnosis, (2) treatment planning, (3) computed-assisted surgery, and (4) post-procedure follow-up. We are currently using the CEPH visualization environment to produce average landmark sets from the nearly 2000 'Bolton Standards' images. These images were collected for the Bolton-Brush Growth Study at Case Western Reserve University. Two dimensional landmark data captured from these images are universally recognized and used as diagnostic and treatment 'norms.' We are planning to make new three dimensional Bolton Standards data available this year. To this end we have scanned all of the Bolton Standards cephalograms at 2400 by 2400 resolution with 12 bits of grayscale information on a TDI scanner.

Date Published: 16 April 1996
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 2710, Medical Imaging 1996: Image Processing, (16 April 1996); doi: 10.1117/12.237976

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2710:
Medical Imaging 1996: Image Processing
Murray H. Loew; Kenneth M. Hanson, Editor(s)