title: Fractal dimension analysis of MDCT images for quantifying the morphological changes of the pulmonary artery tree in patients with pulmonary hypertension.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to use fractal dimension (FD) analysis on multidetector CT (MDCT) images for quantifying the morphological changes of the pulmonary artery tree in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH).
  
  
  METHODS
  Fourteen patients with PH and 17 patients without PH as controls were studied. All of the patients underwent contrast-enhanced helical CT and transthoracic echocardiography. The pulmonary artery trees were generated using post-processing software, and the FD and projected image area of the pulmonary artery trees were determined with ImageJ software in a personal computer. The FD, the projected image area and the pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) were statistically evaluated in the two groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The FD, the projected image area and the PAP of the patients with PH were higher than those values of the patients without PH (p < 0.05, t-test). There was a high correlation of FD with the PAP (r = 0.82, p < 0.05, partial correlation analysis). There was a moderate correlation of FD with the projected image area (r = 0.49, p < 0.05, partial correlation analysis). There was a correlation of the PAP with the projected image area (r = 0.65, p < 0.05, Pearson correlation analysis).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The FD of the pulmonary arteries in the PH patients was significantly higher than that of the controls. There is a high correlation of FD with the PAP.
authors: Shandong University, Shandong Medical Imaging Research Institute, CT Room, Shandong, PR China.
authors: Sun
authors: S
authors: Haitao
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Ning
authors: Guo
authors: G
authors: Lijun
authors: Gao
authors: G
authors: Fei
authors: Liu
authors: L
authors: Cheng
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