Surface modeling and segmentation of the 3D airway wall in MSCT

Airway wall remodeling in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a well-known indicator of the pathology. In this context, current clinical studies aim for establishing the relationship between the airway morphological structure and its function. Multislice computed tomography (MSCT) allows morphometric assessment of airways, but requires dedicated segmentation tools for clinical exploitation. While most of the existing tools are limited to cross-section measurements, this paper develops a fully 3D approach for airway wall segmentation. Such approach relies on a deformable model which is built up as a patient-specific surface model at the level of the airway lumen and deformed to reach the outer surface of the airway wall. The deformation dynamics obey a force equilibrium in a Lagrangian framework constrained by a vector field which avoids model self-intersections. The segmentation result allows a dense quantitative investigation of the airway wall thickness with a deeper insight at bronchus subdivisions than classic cross-section methods. The developed approach has been assessed both by visual inspection of 2D cross-sections, performed by two experienced radiologists on clinical data obtained with various protocols, and by using a simulated ground truth (pulmonary CT image model). The results confirmed a robust segmentation in intra-pulmonary regions with an error in the range of the MSCT image resolution and underlined the interest of the volumetric approach versus purely 2D methods.

[1]  Cristian Lorenz,et al.  Automated assessment of bronchial lumen, wall thickness and bronchoarterial diameter ratio of the tracheobronchial tree using high-resolution CT , 2004, CARS.

[2]  Francoise Preteux,et al.  A morphological-aggregative approach for 3D segmentation of pulmonary airways from generic MSCT acquisitions , 2009 .

[3]  Tony DeRose,et al.  Mesh optimization , 1993, SIGGRAPH.

[4]  C. B. Ahn,et al.  Vessel Boundary Detection for its 3D Reconstruction by Using a Deformable Model (GVF Snake) , 2005, 2005 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology 27th Annual Conference.

[5]  Guang-Zhong Yang,et al.  ERS transform for the automated detection of bronchial abnormalities on CT of the lungs , 2001, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[6]  Enrico O. Purisima,et al.  A new tetrahedral tesselation scheme for isosurface generation , 1998, Comput. Graph..

[7]  K P Whittall,et al.  An analysis algorithm for measuring airway lumen and wall areas from high-resolution computed tomographic data. , 2000, American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine.

[8]  Shin Matsuoka,et al.  Serial change in airway lumen and wall thickness at thin-section CT in asymptomatic subjects. , 2005, Radiology.

[9]  E. Hoffman,et al.  Characterization of the interstitial lung diseases via density-based and texture-based analysis of computed tomography images of lung structure and function. , 2003, Academic radiology.

[10]  Eric A. Hoffman,et al.  Accurate measurement of intrathoracic airways , 1997, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[11]  Françoise J. Prêteux,et al.  Ground truth and CT image model simulation for pathophysiological human airway system , 2010, Medical Imaging.

[12]  A. Saragaglia,et al.  Accurate 3D quantification of the bronchial parameters in MDCT , 2005, SPIE Optics + Photonics.

[13]  E R Weibel,et al.  Design of the mammalian respiratory system. IV Morphometric estimation of pulmonary diffusing capacity; critical evaluation of new sampling method. , 1981, Respiration physiology.

[14]  Jerry L. Prince,et al.  Generalized gradient vector flow external forces for active contours , 1998, Signal Process..

[15]  Milan Sonka,et al.  Intrathoracic airway wall detection using graph search and scanner PSF information , 1997, Medical Imaging.

[16]  Jacques-Olivier Lachaud,et al.  Deformable model with adaptive mesh and automated topology changes , 2003, Fourth International Conference on 3-D Digital Imaging and Modeling, 2003. 3DIM 2003. Proceedings..