TokenSTFormer: A Tokenized Spatial-temporal Attention Model for Holistic Motion Analysis in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Screening

2026-08-17Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

Computer Vision and Pattern RecognitionArtificial IntelligenceMachine Learning
AI summary

The authors studied a common spine problem in teens called Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS). They created a new large dataset combining walking videos with X-ray images to help detect AIS. They also developed a special computer model, TokenSTFormer, that looks at both space and time in the videos to get better at spotting the condition. Their model did better than older methods, showing promise for easier and cheaper scoliosis screening in the future.

Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosisgait analysisVision TransformerTokenSTFormerspatial semanticstemporal semanticsX-ray imagingmachine learningscreening methodsfeature representation
Authors
Dong Chen, Kenneth M. C. Cheung
Abstract
Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) is a prevalent spinal deformity in adolescents that, if left untreated, can result in severe health outcomes. Traditional screening methods are limited by subjective interpretation, reliance on professional expertise and low scalability. To address these challenges, we present ScoliGait dataset, which comprises 1,516 gait video clips paired with corresponding X-ray records. We also introduce TokenSTFormer, a novel model that tokenizes spatial and temporal semantics to enhance feature representation and convergence. Our model achieves state-of-the-art performance, surpassing vanilla Vision Transformer encoder across key metrics, including accuracy of 0.79. This study highlights the potential of leveraging holistic motion features derived from gait video and attention-based models for scalable, cost-effective AIS screening, paving the way for future clinical applications in scoliosis detection.