Fractal analysis of macroradiographic images: Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease

A sample of sixty one two dimensional radiographic images of the lateral pillar of the femoral head were subjected to fractal analysis in order to investigate its ability to discriminate two groups of images - femoral heads with Legg-Calvé- Perthes disease and normal femoral heads. Skeletonized images of the femoral head contours were successfully quantified by the box counting method, showing significant difference in contours of the affected femoral heads than those of normal femoral heads. Further investigation in application of the fractal analysis to the current classification scheme of radiographs of the affected femoral heads is also discussed.