BACKGROUND: Scoliosis is one of the most common spinal deformations that are usually diagnosed on frontal radiographs using Cobb’s method. Automatic measurement methods based on artificial intelligence can overcome many drawbacks of the usual method and can significantly save radiologist’s time. AIM: To analyze the accuracy, advantages, and disadvantages of a newly developed artificial intelligence program for the automatic diagnosis of scoliosis and measurement of Cobb’s angle on frontal radiographs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In total, 114 digital radiographs were used to test the agreement of Cobb’s angle measurements between the new automatic method and the radiologist using the Bland–Altman method on Microsoft Excel. A limited clinical accuracy test was also conducted using 120 radiographs. The accuracy of the system in defining the scoliosis grade was evaluated by sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. RESULTS: The agreement of Cobb’s angle measurement between the system and the radiologist’s calculation was found mostly in grade 1 and 2 scoliosis. Only 2.8% of the results showed a clinically significant angle variability of >5°. The diagnostic accuracy metrics of the limited clinical trial in City Mariinsky Hospital (Saint Petersburg, Russia) also proved the reliability of the system, with a sensitivity of 0.97, specificity of 0.88, accuracy (general validity) of 0.93, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.93. CONCLUSION: Overall, the artificial intelligence program can automatically and accurately define the scoliosis grade and measure the angles of spinal curvatures on frontal radiographs. © Eco-Vector, 2024.
Original languageRussian
Pages (from-to)243-254
Number of pages12
JournalDigital Diagnostics
Volume5
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 20 Sep 2024

ID: 126219141