Deep learning approach for automatic segmentation of ulna and radius in dual-energy X-ray imaging

BACKGROUND: Segmentation of the ulna and radius is a crucial step for the measurement of bone mineral density (BMD) in dual-energy X-ray imaging in patients suspected of having osteoporosis. PURPOSE: This work aimed to propose a deep learning approach for the accurate automatic segmentation of the ulna and radius in dual-energy X-ray imaging. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We developed a deep learning model with residual block (Resblock) for the segmentation of the ulna and radius. Three hundred and sixty subjects were included in the study, and five-fold cross-validation was used to evaluate the performance of the proposed network. The Dice coefficient and Jaccard index were calculated to evaluate the results of segmentation in this study. RESULTS: The proposed network model had a better segmentation performance than the previous deep learning-based methods with respect to the automatic segmentation of the ulna and radius. The evaluation results suggested that the average Dice coefficients of the ulna and radius were 0.9835 and 0.9874, with average Jaccard indexes of 0.9680 and 0.9751, respectively. CONCLUSION: The deep learning-based method developed in this study improved the segmentation performance of the ulna and radius in dual-energy X-ray imaging.