Reproducibility of a semi-automatic method for 6-point vertebral morphometry in a multi-centre trial

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Quantitative Osteology
• Clinical Informatics

Background:

• Vertebral morphometry is crucial for diagnosing and monitoring skeletal deformities.
• Accurate and reproducible measurements are essential for large-scale epidemiological studies.
• Existing manual methods can be time-consuming and prone to inter-observer variability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the reproducibility of the semi-automated vertebral morphometry system, MorphoXpress.
• To evaluate MorphoXpress's performance in a multi-centre clinical trial setting.
• To determine the intra-operator and inter-operator agreement for vertebral height measurements.

Main Methods:

• A multi-centre trial involving 132 clinicians across 20 osteo-centres in Italy.
• Clinicians used the MorphoXpress software after standardized training.
• Images represented diverse clinical conditions, and each was presented twice for intra-operator assessment; inter-operator agreement was also calculated.

Main Results:

• Overall intra-operator mean difference in vertebral heights was 1.61+/-4.27% with a coefficient of variation of 3.95%.
• Overall inter-operator mean difference was 2.93+/-5.38% with a coefficient of variation of 6.89%.
• These results indicate good agreement for vertebral height measurements.

Conclusions:

• The MorphoXpress system facilitates reproducible quantitative morphometry.
• This technology is well-suited for large-scale studies investigating vertebral deformities.
• Semi-automated morphometry offers a viable solution for consistent clinical data acquisition.