Jianhua Yao • Tobias Klinder
Shuo Li
Editors

2014

Proceedings of the Workshop held at the 16th
International Conference on Medical Image
Computing and Computer Assisted
Intervention

The spine represents both a vital central axis for the musculoskeletal system and a flexible protective shell surrounding the most important neural pathway in the body, the spinal cord. Spine-related diseases or conditions are common and cause a huge burden of morbidity and cost to society. Examples include degenerative disk disease, spinal stenosis, scoliosis, osteoporosis, herniated disks, fracture/ligamentous injury, infection, tumor, and spondyloarthropathy. Treatment varies with the disease entity and the clinical scenario can be nonspecific. As a result, imaging is often required to help make the diagnosis. Frequently obtained studies include plain radiographs, DXA, bone scans, CT, MR, ultrasound, and nuclear medicine.