Quantifying progression of multiple sclerosis via classification of depth videos

Med Image Comput Comput Assist Interv. 2014;17(Pt 2):429-37. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-10470-6_54.

Abstract

This paper presents new learning-based techniques for measuring disease progression in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. Our system aims to augment conventional neurological examinations by adding quantitative evidence of disease progression. An off-the-shelf depth camera is used to image the patient at the examination, during which he/she is asked to perform carefully selected movements. Our algorithms then automatically analyze the videos, assessing the quality of each movement and classifying them as healthy or non-healthy. Our contribution is three-fold: We i) introduce ensembles of randomized SVM classifiers and compare them with decision forests on the task of depth video classification; ii) demonstrate automatic selection of discriminative landmarks in the depth videos, showing their clinical relevance; iii) validate our classification algorithms quantitatively on a new dataset of 1041 videos of both MS patients and healthy volunteers. We achieve average Dice scores well in excess of the 80% mark, confirming the validity of our approach in practical applications. Our results suggest that this technique could be fruitful for depth-camera supported clinical assessments for a range of conditions.

MeSH terms

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Diagnostic Techniques, Neurological*
  • Disease Progression
  • Humans
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional / methods*
  • Movement Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Movement Disorders / etiology
  • Multiple Sclerosis / complications
  • Multiple Sclerosis / diagnosis*
  • Pattern Recognition, Automated / methods*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Video Recording / methods*
  • Whole Body Imaging / methods*