Automatic Adductors Angle Measurement for Neurological Assessment of Post-neonatal Infants during Follow Up

摘要

In many medical examinations, image or video based automatic schemes are preferred over conventional approaches. Such schemes can greatly increase the efficacy and accuracy of various medical examinations. The work proposed in this article presents an image processing based method to automate adductors angle measurement which is carried out on infants as a part of Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination (HINE). It is used for assessing neurological development of infants aged below two years. During HINE, postures and reactions of the infant under consideration are recorded. An overall score is estimated and used to quantify the neurological development index of the baby. In the conventional approach, for measuring adductors angle, doctors use rulers. The proposed method uses image segmentation and thinning techniques to measure the angle without involvement of rulers. Results show that the proposed scheme can be used as an aid to the doctors for conducting such examinations.