Osteometry by computer-aided image analysis: application to the human atlas.

Computer-assisted image-analysis having almost not been applied to macroscopical anatomy, particularly to osteometry, we used it for the automatic measurement of 8 osteological parameters on a series of 150 human atlases. From these measured parameters, 5 parameters have been directly calculated. The values obtained by image analysis and by measurement with vernier calliper are identical and similar to the data of the literature. The accuracy, the sources of error, and the great advantages of the image analysis method are then discussed.