Dynamic Stereo X-Ray (DSX) Suite

What is Dynamic Stereo X-Ray (DSX) Suite?

The submillimetre bone positioning tool for joint movements of biplanar videoradiography data

The DSX suite is designed to process data from biplanar videoradiography (also known as double fluoroscopy). It is software to generate fast, robust and reliable bone or implant pose estimates from radiographic image sequences with minimal operator intervention. The application suite enables x-ray data processing from collection to analysis and reporting.

Dynamic radiography is necessary because joint translations of only a few millimeters are critical to estimating tissue stress or joint impact during loaded functional movements, and dynamic X-ray processing is the only technology currently available that can achieve the sub-millimetre bone pose (position and orientation) estimation accuracy during a wide variety of functional movements.

Processing requires a high-resolution computed tomography of the subject, a local reference chart assigned to each bone to be screened, and a time series of X-ray images containing the bones.

The features of the DSX Application Suite

XManager

XManager lets you manage information about the subject and all system settings, assessments, and data files associated with it. The most important function of XManager is to create, store, and load the data associated with a subject.

XManager can be used to launch any of the DSX applications in the DSX Suite with the subject information preloaded.

X4D

X4D tracks bones and implants in X-ray tests using single-frame or 4D optimization. The DSX algorithm resolves the 3D pose by recording two non-coplanar X-ray images of a bone on two digitally reconstructed radiographs (DRRs).

Visual3D has been extended to integrate directly with X4D. Surface models and associated reference frames and regions of interest are loaded for additional cinematic processing and reporting.

To combine DRR images with X-ray images, the two sets of images are processed first. X-ray images are smoothed with a convolution filter, and then an edge detection algorithm is run. The final processed x-ray image used for tracking is the edge detection image times a weighting factor, plus the smoothed intensity image. DRR images are not smoothed, but are inserted into the edge detection algorithm. The final drr image processed is the edge detection image time a weighting factor, plus the original DRR image.

CalibrateDSX

CalibrateDSX calculates the 3D configuration parameters of x-ray hardware (the pose of X-ray sources and image planes) from images of a calibration object. It also corrects uniformity, corrects distortion, and resizes all X-ray image files.

Surface3D

Surface3D lets you segment individual objects from TC data, create surface models of objects, and identify anatomical landmarks (for example, ligament attachments). It uses 3D image data and creates tracking objects (such as voxel data) and surface models (such as polygons) from voxel data. Allows the user to identify anatomical reference points that are easily identifiable in the image data and get everything (TC, surface models, reference points) in the appropriate reference frames.

Surface3D can:

- Import DICOM files with CT data

- Use threshold to label bone voxels of interest

- Mask the other voxels

- Cut the dice

- Create a surface model

Note: For segmentation only, alternative tools such as Mimics, ScanIP, and 3D-Slicer can also be used.

Orient3D

Orient3D prepares object surface models for X4D tracking and kinematic analysis in Visual3D. It loads surface models and calculates anatomically significant reference frames and allows you to define tags and regions of interest, which are used to generate maps of joint distances.

Locate3D

Locate3D tracks points of interest (usually radiopaque accounts) in X-ray image sequences.

PlanDSX

PlanDSX (still under development) is a utility for designing the appropriate 3D configuration of X-ray hardware for a specific subject and/or task.

System requirements:

CPU: 1.8 GHz dual core processor

RAM: 2 GB

HDD / SSD: 50 GB of free space on the main drive

Operating system: Microsoft Windows 8 32-bit, Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit and Microsoft Windows Vista 32-bit

Resolution: 1024×768