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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.

Abstract: In order to objectively quantify airway geometry from 3D Computed Tomographic (CT) images, an idealized (circular cross-section) airway model is parameterized by airway caliber, wall thickness, and tilt angle. Using a 2D CT slice, an initial guess for the airway center and the full-width-half-max principle we form an estimate of the inner and outer airway wall locations. We then fit ellipses to the inner and outer airway walls using a direct least squares fit and use the major and minor axes of the ellipses to estimate the tilt and in-plane rotation angles. Convolving the airway model, initialized with these estimates, with the 3D scanner point spread function, forms the predicted image. The difference between predicted and actual images is minimized by refining the model parameter estimates using a multi-dimensional, unconstrained, non-linear minimization routine. When optimization converges, airway model parameters estimate the airway inner and outer radii and tilt angle. Results using a plexiglass phantom show that tilt angle is estimated to within +/-4 degrees, and both inner and outer radii to within 1/2 pixel when a standard CT reconstruction kernel is used. By opening up the ability to measure airways which are not oriented perpendicular to the scanning plane, this method provides for the ability to now evaluate a greater sampling of airways in a 2D CT slice than has been previously possible. In addition, by combining the tilt angle compensation with the deconvolution method, we provide significant improvement over the previous full-width- half-maximum method for assessing location of the lumenal edge but not the outer edge of the airway wall.

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Keywords: airways measurement

Other publications by: O. Saba, E. A. Hoffman, J. M. Reinhardt

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)
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)
M. Suter, J. Tschirren, J. M. Reinhardt, M. Sonka, E. A. Hoffman, W. E. Higgins, and G. McLennan. Evaluation of the human airway with multi-detector X-ray computed tomography and optical imaging. Physiological Measurement, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 837-847, 2004. (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)
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. (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)

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)