Fully automatic algorithm for detecting and tracking anatomical shoulder landmarks on fluoroscopy images with artificial intelligence.

Croci, Eleonora; Hess, Hanspeter; Warmuth, Fabian; Künzler, Marina; Börlin, Sean; Baumgartner, Daniel; Müller, Andreas Marc; Gerber, Kate; Mündermann, Annegret (2024). Fully automatic algorithm for detecting and tracking anatomical shoulder landmarks on fluoroscopy images with artificial intelligence. European radiology, 34(1), pp. 270-278. Springer-Verlag 10.1007/s00330-023-10082-8

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OBJECTIVE

Patients with rotator cuff tears present often with glenohumeral joint instability. Assessing anatomic angles and shoulder kinematics from fluoroscopy requires labelling of specific landmarks in each image. This study aimed to develop an artificial intelligence model for automatic landmark detection from fluoroscopic images for motion tracking of the scapula and humeral head.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Fluoroscopic images were acquired for both shoulders of 25 participants (N = 12 patients with unilateral rotator cuff tear, 6 men, mean (standard deviation) age: 63.7 ± 9.7 years; 13 asymptomatic subjects, 7 men, 58.2 ± 8.9 years) during a 30° arm abduction and adduction movement in the scapular plane with and without handheld weights of 2 and 4 kg. A 3D full-resolution convolutional neural network (nnU-Net) was trained to automatically locate five landmarks (glenohumeral joint centre, humeral shaft, inferior and superior edges of the glenoid and most lateral point of the acromion) and a calibration sphere.

RESULTS

The nnU-Net was trained with ground-truth data from 6021 fluoroscopic images of 40 shoulders and tested with 1925 fluoroscopic images of 10 shoulders. The automatic landmark detection algorithm achieved an accuracy above inter-rater variability and slightly below intra-rater variability. All landmarks and the calibration sphere were located within 1.5 mm, except the humeral landmark within 9.6 mm, but differences in abduction angles were within 1°.

CONCLUSION

The proposed algorithm detects the desired landmarks on fluoroscopic images with sufficient accuracy and can therefore be applied to automatically assess shoulder motion, scapular rotation or glenohumeral translation in the scapular plane.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE STATEMENT

This nnU-net algorithm facilitates efficient and objective identification and tracking of anatomical landmarks on fluoroscopic images necessary for measuring clinically relevant anatomical configuration (e.g. critical shoulder angle) and enables investigation of dynamic glenohumeral joint stability in pathological shoulders.

KEY POINTS

• Anatomical configuration and glenohumeral joint stability are often a concern after rotator cuff tears. • Artificial intelligence applied to fluoroscopic images helps to identify and track anatomical landmarks during dynamic movements. • The developed automatic landmark detection algorithm optimised the labelling procedures and is suitable for clinical application.

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