Development and application of a non invasive image matching method to study spine biomechanics

Abstract

Research on spine biomechanics is critical to understand pathology such as degenerative changes and low back pain. However, current study on in-vivo spine biomechanics is limited by the complex anatomy and invasive methodology. Modem clinical imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance and fluoroscope images, which are widely accessible nowadays, have the potential to study in-vivo spine biomechanics accurately and non-invasively. This research presents a new combined magnetic resonance and fluoroscope imaging matching method to study human lumbar vertebral kinematics and disc deformation during various physiologic functional activities. Validation and application of this method as well as discussion of its performance and applicability are detailed herein.