title: Usefulness of coronal reconstruction CT images for quantitative evaluation of the cross-sectional area of small pulmonary vessels.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cross-sectional area <5 mm(2) (CSA<5) is a computed tomography (CT) metric that has been used for the evaluation of pulmonary vessel alterations and perfusion. CSA<5 is calculated from three axial slices; thus, whether CSA<5 represents the small pulmonary vessel alterations in the whole lung remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to compare the measurements of CSA<5 using three axial slices and coronal reconstructed slices in the relationship between the measured CSA<5 and pulmonary perfusion measured using lung perfusion scintigraphy.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study comprised 28 subjects who underwent both noncontrast CT and lung perfusion scintigraphy. The present study measured CSA<5 using both three axial CT images and coronal reconstruction images and then obtained the percentage of the CSA in right lung to that in whole lung (R/W-CSA<5). Using anteroposterior and posteroanterior projections on technetium-99m macroaggregated albumin (MAA) lung perfusion scintigraphy, we obtained right and total lung counts and calculated the percentage of the right to whole lung counts (R/W-MAA). The correlations of the R/W-CSA<5 calculated using three axial slices (R/W-CSA(A)x<5) and coronal reconstructed slices (R/W-CSA(COR)<5) with R/W-MAA were evaluated using Spearman rank correlation analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both R/W-CSA(Ax)<5 and R/W-CSA(COR)<5 were significantly correlated with R/W-MAA; however, the correlation coefficient with R/W-CSA(COR)<5 (ρ = 0.842, P < .0001) was greater than that with R/W-CSA(Ax)<5 (ρ = 0.631, P = .0004).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Coronal reconstruction images appear suitable for quantitative measurement of CSA of small pulmonary vessels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae-Ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511, Japan. Electronic address: shin4114@mac.com.
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsuoka
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae-Ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511, Japan; Department of Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Science, University of the Ryukyu.
authors.forename: Tsuneo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamashiro
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae-Ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511, Japan.
authors.forename: Shoichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsushita
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae-Ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511, Japan.
authors.forename: Akiyuki
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kotoku
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae-Ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsuko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fujikawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae-Ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511, Japan.
authors.forename: Kunihiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yagihashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae-Ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511, Japan.
authors.forename: Hayato
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tomita
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae-Ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511, Japan.
authors.forename: Shingo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae-Ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae-Ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saruya
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae-Ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-8511, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakajima
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D019412:Anatomy, Cross-Sectional / Q000379:methods*; D000792:Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Pulmonary vessels; computed tomography; pulmonary perfusion; quantitative; reconstruction