KR101945856B1 - System and method for measuring visceral fat using x-ray - Google Patents

Abstract

A system for measuring visceral fat mass using an X-ray, the system comprising: an X-ray apparatus for irradiating an X-ray to a side of the abdomen of a subject and detecting an X-ray transmitted through the abdomen of the subject; And a workstation for measuring a first distance from the front end of the vertebral body of the subject to the abalone wall from the obtained x-ray image, and calculating a visceral fat mass of the subject from the first distance .

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to a system and method for measuring visceral fat mass using an X-

The present invention relates to a system and method for measuring visceral fat mass using x-rays.

Recently, body fat mass has been attracting attention as an indicator of the health status of subjects. In particular, visceral fat mass has been attracting attention as an index for determining whether or not it is visceral obesity obesity. Such visceral obesity obesity is known to cause lifestyle-related diseases that are prone to arteriosclerosis such as diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. In particular, visceral fat refers to the fat accumulated inside the abdomen at the inner side of the abdominal muscle and is distinguished from subcutaneous fat accumulated in the surface layer of the abdomen. As an index indicating the visceral fat amount, it is general to adopt an area occupied by visceral fat in a section of the abdomen of the portion corresponding to the navel position.

On the other hand, the visceral fat amount can be measured by imaging the cross section of human body such as Calibration method, CT (Cmputed Tomography) method, DEXA (Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry) method, MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imager) A method of reading measurement has been applied. In particular, the measurement of the amount of fat in the abdomen is considered to be the most accurate method available through the CT scan of the lumbar spine (Lumber 4-5), but there are problems with radiation exposure and cost, The development of technology that can

An X-ray device is a medical imaging device that transmits an X-ray to a human body and acquires the internal structure of the human body as an image. The X-ray apparatus is advantageous in that it can acquire a medical image of a target object in a short time in comparison with other medical imaging apparatuses including an MRI apparatus and a CT apparatus. Therefore, the X-ray apparatus is widely used for simple chest radiography, simple abdominal radiography, simple skeletal radiography, simple sinus radiography, neck soft tissue radiography, and mammography.

Open Patent Publication No. 10-2000-0011890, Feb. 25, 2000

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a system and method for measuring visceral fat mass using an X-ray.

The problems to be solved by the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned problems, and other problems which are not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for measuring a visceral fat amount using an X-ray, the system comprising: an X-ray apparatus for irradiating an X-ray to the abdomen of a subject and detecting an X-ray transmitted through the abdomen of the subject; Acquiring a x-ray image of the abdominal side surface of the subject from the x-ray device, measuring a first distance from the front end of the vertebral body of the subject to the abalone wall from the obtained x-ray image, And a workstation for calculating fat mass.

The work station may measure the first distance by measuring a distance from the front end of the vertebra of the subject to the belly button of the subject.

The workstation may measure the first distance by measuring a distance from a front end between the lumbar vertebrae 4 and the vertebra 5 of the vertebrae of the subject to the navel of the subject.

The system may further include a navel position indicator inserted into the navel of the subject to indicate a position of the navel and configured of a first member having a lower x-ray transmittance than the subject.

In addition, the system may further include a fixing band for fixing the navel position indicator, and the fixing band may include a second member having a higher x-ray transmittance than the object.

In addition, the workstation may correct the obtained x-ray image and estimate the position of the front end of the vertebral body of the subject and the position of the abalone wall of the subject using the corrected x-ray image.

In addition, the workstation can distinguish each part of the object according to the difference in X-ray absorption of each part of the object by emphasizing the contrast of the X-ray image.

The X-ray apparatus may measure a refractive index according to a phase change generated when the X-ray passes through the object, and may generate a contrast of the X-ray image based on the measured refractive index.

Further, the visceral fat amount can be calculated by the following equation.

Built-in fat amount = weight value × first distance - adjustment value

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of measuring the visceral fat amount using an X-ray, the method comprising: irradiating an X-ray to a side of the abdomen of a subject; detecting X- Measuring a first distance from the front end of the vertebral body of the subject to the abalone wall from the obtained x-ray image, and determining a visceral fat mass of the subject from the first distance .

Other specific details of the invention are included in the detailed description and drawings.

According to the disclosed embodiment, the distance from the front end of the vertebral body to the abalone wall in the abdomen side image, more specifically, the abdominal internal image through the X-ray image, is calculated, As a result of checking the correlation, it is possible to calculate the visceral fat amount only by measuring the distance from the front end of the vertebral body to the abalone wall.

Accordingly, it is possible to diagnose visceral obesity more simply and effectively while minimizing the examination cost and radiation dose according to the CT photographing instead of the conventional single CT scan.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned effects, and other effects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an X-ray system.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system for measuring visceral fat mass using an X-ray according to an embodiment.
3 is a view showing an example of a sectional image of the abdomen of the subject.
4 is a view showing an example of an x-ray image of the abdomen side surface of the subject.
5 is a view showing a mechanism for indicating the position of the navel according to one embodiment.
6 is a view showing an example of acquiring x-ray images of the abdominal side of the subject using the umbilical position indicator and the fixing band.
FIG. 7 is a view showing a state in which the abdomen side face of a subject is photographed according to an embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of measuring visceral fat mass using an X-ray according to an embodiment.
9 is a part of experimental data on visceral fat amount (A) measurement.
10 is a part of experimental data of visceral fat amount (B) calculation.
11 and 12 are results of analyzing a correlation between the visceral fat amount A and the visceral fat amount B, respectively.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The advantages and features of the present invention, and the manner of achieving them, will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein, Is provided to fully convey the scope of the present invention to a technician, and the present invention is only defined by the scope of the claims.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of illustrating embodiments and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. In the present specification, the singular form includes plural forms unless otherwise specified in the specification. The terms " comprises "and / or" comprising "used in the specification do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other elements in addition to the stated element. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification and "and / or" include each and every combination of one or more of the elements mentioned. Although "first "," second "and the like are used to describe various components, it is needless to say that these components are not limited by these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish one component from another. Therefore, it goes without saying that the first component mentioned below may be the second component within the technical scope of the present invention.

As used herein, the term "part " refers to a hardware component, such as a software, FPGA, or ASIC, and the" part " However, 'minus' is not limited to software or hardware. The " part " may be configured to be in an addressable storage medium and configured to play back one or more processors. Thus, by way of example, and not limitation, "part (s) " refers to components such as software components, object oriented software components, class components and task components, and processes, Subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuitry, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays and variables. The functions provided in the components and "parts " may be combined into a smaller number of components and" parts " or further separated into additional components and "parts ".

Unless defined otherwise, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein may be used in a sense that is commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. In addition, commonly used predefined terms are not ideally or excessively interpreted unless explicitly defined otherwise.

As used herein, an "image" may refer to multi-dimensional data composed of discrete image elements (e.g., pixels in a two-dimensional image and voxels in a three-dimensional image). Examples of images may include x-ray devices, CT devices, MRI devices, ultrasound devices, and medical images of objects obtained by other medical imaging devices.

Also, in this specification, an "object" may be a person or an animal, or a part of a person or an animal. For example, the subject may comprise at least one of the following: liver, heart, uterus, brain, breast, organs such as the abdomen, and blood vessels. The "object" may also be a phantom. A phantom is a substance that is very close to the density and effective atomic number of an organism and that is very close to the volume of a living thing, and can include a sphere phantom with body-like properties.

In this specification, the term "user" may be a doctor, a nurse, a clinical pathologist, a medical imaging expert or the like as a medical professional and may be a technician repairing a medical device, but is not limited thereto.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an X-ray system.

Referring to FIG. 1, an x-ray system 10 includes an x-ray apparatus 100 and a workstation 110. The x-ray apparatus 100 shown in Fig. 1 may be a fixed x-ray apparatus or a mobile x-ray apparatus. The X-ray apparatus 100 may include an X-ray irradiating unit 120, a high voltage generating unit 121, a detecting unit 130, an operating unit 140, and a control unit 150. The control unit 150 can control the overall operation of the X-ray apparatus 100. FIG.

The high-voltage generating unit 121 generates a high voltage for generating an X-ray and applies it to the X-ray source 122.

The X-ray irradiating unit 120 guides the path of the X-rays irradiated from the X-ray source 122 and the X-ray source 122 for generating and irradiating X-rays by receiving the high voltage generated from the high voltage generating unit 121, And a collimator 123 that adjusts the temperature of the liquid.

The x-ray source 122 may include an x-ray tube, and the x-ray tube may be a bipolar tube composed of an anode and a cathode. The inside of the X-ray tube is made to a high vacuum of about 10 mmHg, and the filament of the cathode is heated to a high temperature to generate thermoelectrons. As the filament, a tungsten filament can be used and the filament can be heated by applying a voltage of 10V and a current of about 3-5A to the electric wire connected to the filament.

When a high voltage of about 10-300 kVp is applied between the cathode and the anode, a hot electron accelerates and generates X-rays while colliding against the target material of the anode. The generated X-rays are irradiated to the outside through the window, and the material of the window can be a thin film of the beryllium. At this time, most of the energy of electrons impinging on the target material is consumed as heat, and the remaining energy consumed as heat is converted into X-rays.

The anode is mainly made of copper, and the target material is disposed on the side facing the cathode. High-resistance materials such as Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, W and Mo can be used as the target material. The target material can be rotated by a rotating field, and when the target material is rotated, the electron impact area is increased and the heat accumulation rate can be increased 10 times or more per unit area as compared with the case where the target material is fixed.

The voltage applied between the cathode and the anode of the X-ray tube is referred to as a tube voltage, which is applied by the high voltage generator 121, and the size thereof can be expressed by the peak value kVp. As the tube voltage increases, the speed of the thermoelectrons increases and consequently the energy (photon energy) of the x-ray generated by collision with the target material increases. The current flowing through the X-ray tube is referred to as a tube current and can be expressed as an average value mA. As the tube current increases, the number of thermoelectrons emitted from the filament increases. As a result, the dose of the X- do.

Therefore, the energy of the X-ray can be controlled by the tube voltage, and the intensity or dose of the X-ray can be controlled by the tube current and the X-ray exposure time.

The detection unit 130 detects an X-ray that has been irradiated by the X-ray irradiating unit 120 and transmitted through the object. The detection unit 130 may be a digital detection unit. The detection unit 130 may be implemented using a TFT, or may be implemented using a CCD. 1, the detecting unit 130 is included in the X-ray apparatus 100. However, the detecting unit 130 may be an X-ray detector, which is a separate device that can be connected to and detached from the X-ray apparatus 100. [

The X-ray apparatus 100 may further include an operation unit 140 for providing an interface for operating the X-ray apparatus 100. The operation unit 140 may include an output unit 141 and an input unit 142. The input unit 142 can receive a command for operating the X-ray apparatus 100 from the user and various information related to X-ray imaging. The control unit 150 can control or manipulate the X-ray apparatus 100 based on the information input to the input unit 142. [ The output unit 141 can output a sound indicative of photographing related information such as an X-ray irradiation under the control of the control unit 150. [

The work station 110 and the X-ray apparatus 100 may be connected to each other wirelessly or wired, and may further include a device (not shown) for synchronizing clocks when wirelessly connected. The workstation 110 may be in a physically separated space with the x-ray apparatus 100.

The workstation 110 may include an output unit 111, an input unit 112, and a control unit 113. The output unit 111 and the input unit 112 provide the user with an interface for operating the workstation 110 and the x-ray apparatus 100. The control unit 113 can control the work station 110 and the X-ray apparatus 100.

The X-ray apparatus 100 may be controlled through the work station 110 and may also be controlled by the control unit 150 included in the X-ray apparatus 100. Accordingly, the user may control the X-ray apparatus 100 through the work station 110 or may control the X-ray apparatus 100 through the operation unit 140 and the control unit 150 included in the X-ray apparatus 100. In other words, the user can remotely control the X-ray apparatus 100 through the work station 110 or directly control the X-ray apparatus 100.

Although the control unit 113 of the work station 110 and the control unit 150 of the X-ray apparatus 100 are shown separately in FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is only an example. In another example, the controllers 113 and 150 may be implemented as one integrated controller, and the integrated controller may be included only in one of the workstation 110 and the x-ray device 100. [ Hereinafter, the control units 113 and 150 refer to at least one of the control unit 113 of the work station 110 and the control unit 150 of the X-ray apparatus 100.

The output unit 111 and the input unit 112 of the work station 110 and the output unit 141 and the input unit 142 of the X-ray apparatus 100 respectively provide the user with an interface for operating the X-ray apparatus 100 . 1, the work station 110 and the X-ray apparatus 100 include the output units 111 and 141 and the input units 112 and 142, respectively, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The output or input may be implemented only in one of the workstation 110 and the x-ray machine 100.

The input units 112 and 142 mean at least one of an input unit 112 of the work station 110 and an input unit 142 of the X-ray apparatus 100. The output units 111 and 141 are connected to the work station 110, The output unit 111 of the X-ray apparatus 100 and the output unit 141 of the X-ray apparatus 100.

Examples of the input units 112 and 142 may include a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, a voice recognizer, a fingerprint recognizer, an iris recognizer, and the like, and may include input devices that are obvious to those skilled in the art. A user may input a command for X-ray inspection through the input units 112 and 142, and the input units 112 and 142 may be provided with switches for inputting the commands. The switch must be pressed twice to set the probe command for X-ray investigation.

That is, when the user presses the switch, the switch receives a preparation command for instructing preheating for X-ray irradiation, and in this state, pressing the switch deeper can have a structure in which an irradiation command for substantial X-ray irradiation is input. When the user operates the switch in this manner, the control units 113 and 150 generate signals corresponding to commands inputted through the switch operation, that is, prepare signals, and transmit them to the high voltage generating unit 121 for generating a high voltage for generating x- do.

The high voltage generating unit 121 receives the ready signal transmitted from the control units 113 and 150 and starts preheating. When the preheating is completed, the high voltage generating unit 121 transmits a ready signal to the control units 113 and 150. In addition, the detection unit 130 is also required to prepare for X-ray detection in order to detect the X-ray. The control units 113 and 150 prepare for the pre-heating of the high voltage generating unit 121 and the detection unit 130 to detect the X- And transmits a ready signal to the detection unit 130 so that it can be performed. Upon receiving the ready signal, the detector 130 prepares to detect the X-ray. When the detection is completed, the detector 130 transmits a detection ready signal to the controllers 113 and 150.

The pre-heating of the high voltage generating part 121 is completed and the preparation of X-ray detection of the detecting part 130 is completed. The control parts 113 and 150 transmit the irradiation signal to the high voltage generating part 121, Generates a high voltage to apply to the x-ray source 122, and the x-ray source 122 irradiates the x-ray.

The control units 113 and 150 transmit a sound output signal to the output units 111 and 141 so that the object can recognize the X-ray irradiation when transmitting the irradiation signal so that the predetermined sound is outputted from the output units 111 and 141 . In addition, the output units 111 and 141 can output sound indicating other shooting related information besides X-ray irradiation. Although the output unit 141 is shown as being included in the operation unit 140 in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the output unit 141 or the output unit 141 is not limited to the output unit 141, Can be located at a point. For example, it may be located on the wall of the photographing room where x-ray photography of the object is performed.

The control units 113 and 150 control the positions of the X-ray irradiating unit 120 and the detecting unit 130, the photographing timing, and the photographing conditions according to photographing conditions set by the user.

Specifically, the control units 113 and 150 control the high-voltage generating unit 121 and the detecting unit 130 according to an instruction input through the input units 112 and 142 to control the irradiation timing of the X-ray, the intensity of the X-ray, And so on. The control units 113 and 150 adjust the position of the detection unit 130 and control the operation timing of the detection unit 130 according to a predetermined photographing condition.

In the disclosed embodiment, the X-ray irradiating unit 120 irradiates the X-ray to the side of the abdomen of the subject, and the detecting unit 130 detects the X-rays transmitted through the abdomen of the subject.

In addition, the control units 113 and 150 generate a medical image for the target object using the image data received through the detection unit 130. [ Specifically, the control units 113 and 150 receive the image data from the detection unit 130, remove the noise of the image data, and adjust the dynamic range and interleaving to generate a medical image of the object .

In the disclosed embodiment, the controller 113, 150 obtains an x-ray image of the abdominal side of the subject. Further, the control units 113 and 150 measure the first distance from the front end of the vertebral body of the subject to the abalone wall from the obtained x-ray image. Further, the control units 113 and 150 calculate the visceral fat amount of the subject from the first distance.

The output units 111 and 141 can output the medical images generated by the control units 113 and 150. [ The output units 111 and 141 may output information necessary for a user to operate the X-ray apparatus 100, such as a user interface (UI), user information, or object information. Examples of the output units 111 and 141 include a speaker, a printer, a CRT display, an LCD display, a PDP display, an OLED display, a FED display, an LED display, a VFD display, a DLP display, an FPD display, a 3D display, And may include a variety of output devices within the scope as would be apparent to those skilled in the art.

The X-ray apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 can be used for a large number of digital signal processing apparatuses (DSP), microcomputer processing apparatuses and special purpose applications (for example, high speed A / D conversion, fast Fourier transform, Processing circuitry, and the like.

Communication between the work station 110 and the X-ray apparatus 100 may be performed using a high-speed digital interface such as LVDS (Low Voltage Differential Signaling), asynchronous serial communication such as UART (universal asynchronous receiver transmitter) (Controller Area Network), or the like, and various communication methods can be used within a range that is obvious to a person skilled in the art.

In the disclosed embodiment, x-ray apparatus 100 or workstation 110 communicates with a user's client using a network or local area communication method. The method of measuring visceral fat mass according to the disclosed embodiments may be performed by a program or an application installed in a user's client.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system for measuring visceral fat mass using an X-ray according to an embodiment.

2, the system 200 includes an X-ray irradiating unit 210, an image obtaining unit 220, an image correcting unit 230, and a built-in fat mass measuring unit 240. On the other hand, only the components associated with the embodiments are shown in the system 200 shown in FIG. Thus, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that other general-purpose components besides the components shown in FIG. 2 may be further included in system 200.

In the disclosed embodiment, the system 200 corresponds to the system 10 shown in FIG.

The X-ray irradiating unit 210 corresponds to the X-ray irradiating unit 120 and the detecting unit 130 included in the X-ray apparatus 100 or the X-ray apparatus 100 shown in FIG.

The X-ray irradiating unit 210 irradiates the X-ray to the side of the abdomen of the subject and detects the X-rays transmitted through the abdomen of the subject.

At least some or all of the image acquiring unit 220, the image correcting unit 230 and the visceral fat amount measuring unit 240 are the same as the X-ray apparatus 100, the work station 110, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > software / hardware < / RTI >

The image obtaining unit 220 obtains an x-ray image of the abdomen side surface of the object using the x-ray detected by the x-ray irradiating unit 210.

In one embodiment, the X-ray irradiating unit 210 measures a refractive index according to a phase change generated when an X-ray passes through a target object. The image acquisition unit 220 generates the contrast of the x-ray image based on the measured refractive index. In this case, contrast can be generated according to the phase change of the X-ray even for a region where the X-ray absorptivity is low, so that each portion of the object can be more easily distinguished from the X-ray image.

The image correcting unit 230 corrects the X-ray image obtained by the image obtaining unit 220.

In one embodiment, when measuring the distance from the front end of the vertebral body to the abalone wall, the vertebral body area is thick and the abdomen around the navel is relatively thin, It may be difficult to acquire the secured image.

Accordingly, the image correcting unit 230 corrects the image quality of the x-ray image in order to increase the accuracy in measuring the distance from the front end of the vertebral body to the abalone wall.

More specifically, in the case where the X-ray image is a digital image, the image correcting unit 230 can adjust the white balance, color, or contrast ratio of the X-ray image in order to clearly distinguish the X- It is possible to use an image quality improvement method that can enhance the image quality.

In one embodiment, the image correcting unit 230 emphasizes the contrast of the X-ray image so that each part of the object can be distinguished according to the X-ray absorption difference of each part of the object.

In another embodiment, it may be difficult to apply the image processing method if the x-ray image is an analog image. In this case, the X-ray filter can be used to acquire an x-ray image which is easy to confirm the position of the abalone wall or the navel of the subject. For example, you can use the x-ray filter to adjust the brightness of the x-ray image.

The built-in fat mass measuring unit 240 measures the visceral fat mass using the x-ray image obtained in the image obtaining unit 220 or the corrected x-ray image in the image correcting unit 230.

The visceral fat amount measurement unit 240 identifies the vertebral body and the abdominal wall of the subject from the x-ray image. The visceral fat amount measurement unit 240 measures the first distance from the front end of the vertebral body of the subject to the abalone wall from the x-ray image. The visceral fat amount measurement unit 240 calculates the visceral fat amount of the subject from the first distance.

In one embodiment, visceral fat mass measurement part 240 identifies the belly button of the object in the x-ray image. The visceral fat amount measurement unit 240 measures the first distance by measuring the distance from the front end of the vertebral body of the subject to the belly button of the subject.

In one embodiment, visceral fat mass measurement part 240 identifies the positions of lumbar vertebrae 4 and lumbar vertebra 5 of the vertebral body of the subject in the x-ray image. The built-in fat mass measuring unit 2400 measures the distance from the front end of the lumbar vertebrae 4, the lumbar vertebra 5 or the lumbar vertebra 4 to the navel of the subject in the x-ray image, .

3 is a view showing an example of a sectional image of the abdomen of the subject.

The abdominal sectional image of the subject 300 shown in FIG. 3 can be obtained through CT (Computed Tomography) photographing. When acquiring the abdominal cross-sectional image of the subject 300 using CT, the visceral fat amount of the subject 300 can be obtained intuitively. However, CT imaging has a disadvantage in that it takes more time and cost than X-ray imaging.

According to the disclosed embodiment, the visceral fat amount of the object 300 is calculated using the first distance d from the front end of the vertebral body 310 of the object 300 to the overturning wall 320 of the object 300 . In one embodiment, the first distance d is obtained by measuring the distance from the front end of the vertebral body 310 of the subject 300 to the belly button 330 of the subject 300.

In one embodiment, visceral fat mass is calculated through the following equation:

Built-in fat amount = weight value × first distance - adjustment value

The weights and adjustment values can be adjusted according to the experiment. For example, it is assumed that the weight is set to 0.8797, and the adjustment value is set to 29.932.

In order to confirm the correlation between the first distance and visceral fat amount according to the above equation, 157 men and women between the ages of 10 and 60 were experimented. To measure the visceral fat mass of the subjects, a single CT scan was performed at the umbilicus.

Specifically, a single CT cross-sectional line tracing of the umbilicus is used to define between -30 and -190 Hounsfield units as fat, including abdominal muscles as a border, mesenteric fat, and posterior peritoneal fat And the visceral fat amount (A) of the subject was measured. A part of the actual measurement data is shown in Fig.

In order to compare with the calculation result according to the above equation, X-ray of the abdomen was performed on the upper 157 patients, and the distance from the front end of the vertebra to the abalone wall around the navel was measured five times And the average value of the distances was calculated. Referring to Fig. 4, an example of an x-ray image of the abdomen side surface of a subject is shown.

The above average value was substituted into the above equation to calculate the visceral fat amount (B). A part of the actually calculated data is attached to Fig.

In addition, the reliability of the method of calculating the visceral fat amount (B) using the x-ray image was confirmed based on the similarity between the visceral fat amount (A) measured using CT and the visceral fat amount (B) calculated using the x-ray image.

As a result, 124 out of 157 subjects showed more than 70% similarity, and 95 out of 157 subjects showed more than 80% similarity.

Furthermore, in order to confirm the correlation between visceral fat amount (A) and visceral fat amount (B), statistical software SPSS was used for analysis.

More specifically, the correlation was measured using a mean value of internal fat mass (A) of 157 persons and a mean value of the distance from the frontal portion of the vertebral canthus to the abalone wall in the X-ray image, and the results are shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 .

In this case, the degree of correlation appears from -1 to 1, and the closer to +1, the higher the correlation, and the closer to 0, the lower the correlation. The closer to -1, the higher the negative (-) correlation.

As shown in FIG. 11, the Pearson correlation coefficient of the mean value VAR00002 of the distance from the vertebral body anterior to the abalone wall to the mean value VAR00001 of the visceral fat mass is 0.825 and the significance is 0.01 level (both sides) The amount of fat and the distance from the vertebral canal to the abalone wall are strongly correlated. Also, as shown in FIG. 12, in the nonparametric correlation analysis, the correlation coefficient was 0.814, and it was confirmed that the visceral fat amount was strongly correlated with the distance from the vertebral canal to the abalone wall.

5 is a view showing a mechanism for indicating the position of the navel according to one embodiment.

In one embodiment, when measuring the distance from the front end of the vertebral body to the abalone wall, the vertebral body area is thick and the abdomen around the navel is relatively thin, It may be difficult to acquire the secured image.

Therefore, the navel position indicator 400 is used which can accurately indicate the position of the navel. The navel position indicator 400 is composed of a first member having a lower x-ray transmittance than the front abdomen around the navel of the subject 300. For example, the navel position indicator 400 may be composed of silicon.

When the navel position indicator 400 is inserted into the navel of the object 300, the position of the navel of the object 300 in the x-ray image can be easily identified.

Further, a fixing band 410 for fixing the navel position indicator 400 to the navel of the object 300 may be used. The fixing band 410 is composed of a second member having higher x-ray transmittance than the object 300 so as not to interfere with the x-ray image. For example, the fixing band 410 may be made of a material such as a cloth having a high X-ray transmittance.

6, an example of obtaining x-ray images of the abdominal side of the object 300 using the navel position indicator 400 and the fixing band 410 is shown.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a state in which the abdomen side face of a subject is photographed according to an embodiment.

7, an example is shown in which an X-ray is irradiated to the side of the abdomen of the object 300 using the X-ray irradiating unit 120, and the X-ray transmitted through the object 300 is detected using the detector 130 .

In another embodiment, the object 300 is photographed vertically in order to photograph the abdomen of the object 300. For example, the X-ray irradiating unit 120 irradiates X-rays vertically on the head of the object 300, and detects the X-rays transmitted through the object 300 under the foot.

The visceral fat amount measurement unit 240 measures the first distance between the front end of the vertebral body and the abalone wall using the obtained x-ray image, substitutes the measured first distance into the above equation, .

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of measuring visceral fat mass using an X-ray according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 8, the method for measuring the visceral fat amount using the X-ray is composed of steps that are processed in a time-series manner in the system 200 shown in FIG. Therefore, the contents described for the system 200 of FIG. 2 can be applied to the method of FIG. 8 even if the method of measuring visceral fat amount in FIG. 8 is omitted.

In step S510, the system 200 irradiates the X-ray on the abdominal side of the subject.

In step S520, the system 200 detects the X-rays transmitted through the abdomen of the subject.

In step S530, the system 200 obtains an x-ray image from the detected x-ray.

In step S540, the system 200 measures the first distance from the front end of the vertebral body of the subject to the abalone wall from the acquired x-ray image.

In step S550, the system 200 calculates the visceral fat mass of the subject from the first distance.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments of the present invention may be embodied directly in hardware, in software modules executed in hardware, or in a combination of both. The software module may be a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD- May reside in any form of computer readable recording medium known in the art to which the invention pertains.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, You will understand. Therefore, it should be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive.

200: System for measuring visceral fat mass using X-ray
210: X-ray inspection department
220: Image acquisition unit
230: image correction unit
240: Built-in fat amount measuring unit

Claims (10)

A system for measuring visceral fat mass using an x-ray,
An X-ray apparatus for irradiating an X-ray to a side of the abdomen of the subject and detecting the X-rays transmitted through the abdomen of the subject; And
Obtaining a x-ray image of the abdominal side of the subject from the x-ray device, measuring a first distance from the front end of the vertebral body of the subject to the abalone wall using image processing from the obtained x-ray image, A work station for calculating the visceral fat mass of the subject from the workstation; . ≪ / RTI > The system of claim 1,
Wherein the first distance is measured by measuring the distance from the front end of the vertebral body of the subject to the navel of the subject using image processing. 3. The system of claim 2,
Wherein the first distance is measured by measuring the distance from the front end between lumbar 4 and 5 of the vertebral body of the subject to the navel of the subject using image processing. 3. The system of claim 2,
Further comprising a belly button position indicator which is inserted into the navel of the subject to indicate the position of the belly button and is composed of a first member having a lower x-ray transmittance than the subject. 5. The system of claim 4,
Further comprising a fixing band for fixing the navel position indicator,
And the fixing band is composed of a second member having a higher x-ray transmittance than the object. The system of claim 1,
Corrects the obtained x-ray image, and estimates a front end portion of the vertebral body of the subject and a position of the rollover wall of the subject using the corrected x-ray image. 7. The work station of claim 6,
Wherein the contrast of the X-ray image is emphasized to distinguish each part of the object according to the X-ray absorption difference of each part of the object. The X-ray apparatus according to claim 6,
Measuring a refractive index according to a phase change generated when the X-ray passes through the object, and generating a contrast of the X-ray image based on the measured refractive index. The system according to claim 1, wherein the visceral fat amount is calculated by the following equation.
Built-in fat amount = weight value × first distance - adjustment value A method for measuring visceral fat mass using an X-ray,
Irradiating the X-ray to the side of the abdomen of the subject by the X-ray irradiator;
Detecting an x-ray transmitted through the abdomen of the subject by an x-ray irradiator;
Obtaining an x-ray image from the detected x-ray by the image acquiring unit;
Measuring a first distance from the front end of the vertebral body of the subject to the abdominal wall using image processing from the acquired x-ray image by a visceral fat mass measurement unit; And
Calculating a visceral fat mass of the subject from the first distance by a visceral fat mass measuring unit; / RTI >

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