Analysis of MRI Slices of Hamstring Avulsion Injury using Histogram

Abstract

Introduction: Hamstring avulsion injury can be defined as improper functioning of the hamstring muscles due to external stress or strain. The detachment of hamstring muscular region from the tendons occurs under severe conditions. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is used as a diagnostic tool to study the region of injury. Histogram analysis is a special type of image processing technique used to describe the changes in the gray levels of the images based on the abnormalities. Aim: To analyse the region of Hamstring avulsion injury in MRI slices using histogram. Materials and Methods: Hamstring avulsion injury MRI slices were obtained from an authorised database, Radiopeadia for analysis. Histogram of each slice of the MRI image was determined. Statistical features were derived from the histogram of each slice which was used to identify specific slice of MRI with high intensity avulsion injury. MRI slice with high intensity was determined for further processing and analysis of the injury. For further accurate identification of the high intensity slice in the MRI slices, statistical features of the slice histogram were obtained. These features were used to define the exact high intensity slice. Results: Histograms of 10 slices of an image were compared to obtain the slice with high intensity region. After comparison, slice four described the high intensity which defines the affected region of hamstring muscle. For further detailed study, statistical values were derived from the histogram. These values were significant for all the 10 slices but highly significant for the slice four. Slice four was further analysed to confirm all the details about the nature of the affected region of injury in hamstring muscle. Conclusion: Histogram defines the intensity variations of the pixels which mainly illustrate the nature of abnormalities, injuries or recognition of any region in the human body. Histogram based statistical values were used to analyse the abnormality or injury. These features were used in different ways for diagnosis and analysis of various abnormalities or disorders. Thus, Histogram and statistical features derived from the histogram from the MRI slices of hamstring avulsion injury were compared to identify the slice that possess high intensity region for the identification of the injury and its characteristics.

Keywords

• avulsion injury
• magnetic resonance imaging
• statistical features