Statistical Shape and Appearance Models: Development Towards Improved Osteoporosis Care

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Statistical models of shape and appearance have increased their popularity since the 1990s and are today highly prevalent in the field of medical image analysis. In this article, we review the recent literature about how statistical models have been applied in the context of osteoporosis and fracture risk estimation. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent developments have increased their ability to accurately segment bones, as well as to perform 3D reconstruction and classify bone anatomies, all features of high interest in the field of osteoporosis and fragility fractures diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. An increasing number of studies used statistical models to estimate fracture risk in retrospective case-control cohorts, which is a promising step towards future clinical application. SUMMARY: All the reviewed application areas made considerable steps forward in the past 5–6 years. Heterogeneities in validation hinder a thorough comparison between the different methods and represent one of the future challenges to be addressed to reach clinical implementation.