Find the Gap in a CT Scan of a Spine

Get a CT scan of a spine:

In[1]:=

CTscan=ResourceData

[

ResourceObject["Example""Find the Gap in a CT Scan of a Spine"],"Image"

]

;

Regularize the volumetric data with a bilateral filter and segment the bone tissue with a density threshold:

In[2]:=

bone=Binarize[BilateralFilter[CTscan,1,0.1],0.285]

Out[2]=

Obtain a mask of the intervertebral disc via morphological operations:

In[3]:=

disc=Blur@DeleteSmallComponents[Closing[bone,DiskMatrix[{6,2,2}]]-bone]

Out[3]=

Generate a boundary mesh of the intervertebral disc:

In[4]:=

mesh=ImageMesh[Blur[disc],DataRangeThread[{0,ImageDimensions[disc]}],Method"DualMarchingCubes"]

Out[4]=

The mesh can be stored as a DXF file for further processing or 3D printing.

Display the intervertebral disc model between the vertebrae:

In[5]:=

Show[CTscanBlur@bone,mesh]

Out[5]=

Wolfram Language Example Repository