Investigation of Ossification Pattern of Structures of Equine Metacarpophalangeal Articulation with the Aid of Digital Imaging Segmentation and Processing Techniques: A Preliminary Report

Abstract 

Radiographs, taken at lateromedial (LM) view, were obtained from metacarpophalangeal articulations of 25 horses of variable ages, ranging from 2 to 20 years, as well as a few of undetermined ages. Images of radiographs were acquired as digitized images with the aid of high-resolution (megapixel) digital cameras directly from lighted platforms, and the acquired 24-bits bitmap formatted images were converted to 8-bit grayscale tagged-image format (TIF) images. The TIF images were processed by a technique involving an on-screen quantitative evaluation of spot pixel intensity values in the digitized images, followed by monadic arithmetic pixel subtraction and addition. A color mapping of the pixels into their respective red and blue sub-spectra of the RGB spectrum also was performed. The entire processing operation was accomplished through the use of a standard digital imaging software. The results demonstrate typical bands of possible ossification pattern within the diaphyses, metaphyses, and the epiphyses of the articulating metacarpal and proximal phalanx in the processed radiographic images compared with their nonprocessed counterparts. The relevance of this novel observation, although preliminary, lies in the prospects of assessing pre-race skeletal health status of horses through a cost-effective, simple, and reliable method.

Keywords: Equine fetlock joint, Metacarpophalangeal articulation, Ossification pattern, Digital imaging analysis, Horse pre-race examination