Full length image stitching algorithm for spinal deformity surgery

In the orthopedic surgery of the spine, obtaining a full-length spine image play an important role in evaluating the quality of the procedure. The most common imaging devices used to obtain spine images are C-arm x-ray machines, which requires multiple imaging of the patient's spine at different locations, then stitching together multiple images to obtain an entire spine. This paper proposes an approach based on an improved SIFT feature descriptor for the spine image stitching problem. Considering that the contrast of medical spine X-ray images is generally low and the contrast difference of individual images is significant, an improved SIFT algorithm is proposed based on image contrast information to adjust the contrast threshold. The improved SIFT was introduced into the stitching of spine X-ray images to achieve orthopedics spine images stitched quickly, accurately, and intra-operatively.