An oriented fractal analysis for the characterization of texture. Application to bone radiographs

In this communication, we propose an oriented fractal analysis to characterize a texture. A frequency based method is used to measure the H parameter following different directions. The results are displayed on a polar diagram. Its analysis gives coefficients which quantify both the roughness of the texture and its anisotropy. This method is applied to the characterization of trabecular bone architecture by analysis of X-ray films. The whole acquisition process is optimized to obtain a good reproducibility of the results. Two studies show the medical interest of the method.