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J. M. Reinhardt, W. Park, E. A. Hoffman, and M. Sonka. Intrathoracic airway wall detection using graph search with CT scanner PSF information. In E. A. Hoffman, ed., Proc. SPIE Conf. Medical Imaging, vol. 3033, pp. 93-101, Newport Beach, CA, 1997.

Abstract: Measurements of the in vivo bronchial tree can be used to assess regional airway physiology. High-resolution CT (HRCT) provides detailed images of the lungs and has been used to evaluate bronchial airway geometry. Such measurements have been used to assess diseases affecting the airways, such as asthma and cystic fibrosis, to measure airway response to external stimuli, and to evaluate the mechanics of airway collapse in sleep apnea. To routinely use CT imaging in a clinical setting to evaluate the in vivo airway tree, there is a need for an objective, automatic technique for identifying the airway tree in the CT images and measuring airway geometry parameters. Manual or semi-automatic segmentation and measurement of the airway tree from a 3-D data set may require several man-hours of work, and the manual approaches suffer from inter-observer and intra-observer variabilities. This paper describes a method for automatic airway tree analysis that combines accurate airway wall location estimation with a technique for optimal airway border smoothing. A fuzzy logic, rule-based system is used to identify the branches of the 3-D airway tree in thin-slice HRCT images. Raycasting is combined with a model-based parameter estimation technique to identify the approximate inner and outer airway wall borders in 2-D cross-sections through the image data set. Finally, a 2-D graph search is used optimize the estimated airway wall locations and obtain accurate airway borders. We demonstrate this technique using CT images of a plexiglass tube phantom.

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Keywords: airways measurement

Other publications by: J. M. Reinhardt, W. Park, E. A. Hoffman, M. Sonka

Related journal papers:

J. M. Reinhardt, N. D. D'Souza, and E. A. Hoffman. Accurate Measurement of Intra-Thoracic Airways. IEEE Trans. Medical Imaging, vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 820-827, 1997. (details)
O. Saba, E. A. Hoffman, and J. M. Reinhardt. Maximizing Quantitative Accuracy of Lung Airway Lumen and Wall Measures Obtained from X-ray CT Imaging. J. Applied Physiology, vol. 95, pp. 1063-1095, 2003. (details)
T. E. Robinson, F. R. Long, P. Raman, P. Saha, M. J. Edmond, J. M. Reinhardt, R. Raman, and A. S. Brody. An airway phantom to standardize CT acquisition in multi-center clinical trials. Acad. Radiol., vol. 16, no. 9, pp. 1134-1141, 2009. (details)
C. P. Rooney, M. Suter, G. McLennan, M. Donnelley, J. M. Reinhardt, A. Delsing, E. A. Hoffman, and J. Zabner. Laser Fluorescence Bronchoscopy for Detection of Fluorescent Reporter Genes in Airway Epithelia. Gene Therapy, vol. 9, no. 23, pp. 1639-1644, 2002. (details)
D. Aykac, E. A. Hoffman, G. McLennan, and J. M. Reinhardt. Segmentation and analysis of the human airway tree from three-dimensional X-Ray CT images. IEEE Trans. Medical Imaging, vol. 22, no. 8, pp. 940-950, 2003. (details)

Related conference papers:

N. D. D'Souza, J. M. Reinhardt, and E. A. Hoffman. ASAP: Interactive Quantification of 2D Airway Geometry. In E. A. Hoffman, ed., Proc. SPIE Conf. Medical Imaging, vol. 2709, pp. 180-196, Newport Beach, CA, 1996. (details)
R. A. Chiplunkar, J. M. Reinhardt, and E. A. Hoffman. Segmentation and Quantification of the Primary Human Airway Tree from 3-D X-ray CT. In E. A. Hoffman, ed., Proc. SPIE Conf. Medical Imaging, vol. 3033, pp. 403-414, Newport Beach, CA, 1997. (details)
J. M. Reinhardt, S. A. Raab, N. D. D'Souza, and E. A. Hoffman. Intra-thoracic airway measurement: Ex vivo validation. In E. A. Hoffman, ed., Proc. SPIE Conf. Medical Imaging, vol. 3033, pp. 69-80, Newport Beach, CA, 1997. (details)
O. Saba, E. A. Hoffman, and J. M. Reinhardt. Computed tomographic-based estimation of airway size with correction for scanned plane tilt angle. In C.-T. Chen and A. V. Clough, eds., Proc. SPIE Conf. Medical Imaging, vol. 3978, pp. 58-66, San Diego, CA, 2000. (details)
J. Thiesse, J. M. Reinhardt, J. de Ryk, J. Leinen, W. Recheis, E. A. Hoffman, and G. McLennan. Three-dimensional visual truth of the normal airway tree for use as a quantitative comparison to micro-CT reconstructions. In A. Amini and A. Manduca, eds., Proc. SPIE Conf. Medical Imaging, vol. 5746, pp. 369-383, San Diego, CA, 2005. (details)

Related theses:

O. Saba. Accurate estimation of airway geometry with tilt angle estimation from 2D HRCT slices. MS thesis, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 2000. (details)
D. Aykac. Segmentation and analysis of the human airway tree from 3D X-ray CT images. MS thesis, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 2000. (details)
D. Gopalakrishnan. Color analysis of the human airway wall. MS thesis, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 2003. (details)
P. Kellen. Computer automated image analysis of fluoroscopic swallowing studies. MS thesis, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 2008. (details)
S. V. Bodas. Improved association graph matching of intra-patient airway trees. MS thesis, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 2008. (details)