Novel cross LSTM for predicting the changes of complementary pelvic angles between standing and sitting

Abstract

Sagittal spino-pelvic balance has been increasingly emphasized in hip surgery. The conversion between standing and sitting, characterized by complementary pelvic angles (pelvic tilt, pt and sacral slope, ss), involves a congruent sagittal spino-pelvic relationship. Hence, the changes of complementary pelvic angles pt, ss between standing and sitting could reflect the mechanism of sagittal spino-pelvic balance, and should be analyzed in evidence-based hip surgery planning. To this end, we propose a novel cross LSTM (C-LSTM) framework embedding the conversion between standing and sitting by cross-mapping, to predict the changes of complementary pelvic pt, ss between standing and sitting. Furthermore, to introduce the prior knowledge of the invariance of pelvic incidence, pi, two dual C-LSTMs are integrated to construct a much more powerful Fused C-LSTM. We have conducted extensive experiments on the sagittal standing-sitting dataset for the comprehensive evaluation of the proposed framework. Even in a small samples, Fused C-LSTM can achieve low prediction errors and high correlation between predicted and actual values. Notably, just based on static standing or sitting X-ray, Fused C-LSTM can obtain the change of complementary pt, ss between standing and sitting to assist in formulating a surgical hip plan that conforms to the sagittal spino-pelvic balance.

Keywords: Cross LSTM; Cross-conversion; Cross-mapping; Fused Cross LSTM; Sagittal Spino-Pelvic Balance.