Bone Fracture Detection Algorithms Based on Image Processing-A Survey

Fracture in bone occurs when an external force exercised upon the bone is more than what the bone can tolerate or bear. As, its consequence structure and muscular power of the bone is disturbed and bone becomes frail, which causes tormenting pain on the bone and ends up in the loss of functioning of bone. Accurate bone structure and fracture detection is achieved using various algorithms which removes noise, enhances image details and highlights the fracture region. Automatic detection of fractures from x-ray images is considered as an important process in medical image analysis by both orthopaedic and radiologic aspect. Manual examination of x-rays has multitude drawbacks. The process is time consuming and subjective. In this paper we discuss several digital image processing techniques applied in fracture detection of bone. This led us to study techniques that have been applied to images obtained from different modalities like x-ray, CT, MRI and ultrasound.