title: Accurate airway centerline extraction based on topological thinning using graph-theoretic analysis.
abstract: The quantitative analysis of the airway tree is of critical importance in the CT-based diagnosis and treatment of popular pulmonary diseases. The extraction of airway centerline is a precursor to identify airway hierarchical structure, measure geometrical parameters, and guide visualized detection. Traditional methods suffer from extra branches and circles due to incomplete segmentation results, which induce false analysis in applications. This paper proposed an automatic and robust centerline extraction method for airway tree. First, the centerline is located based on the topological thinning method; border voxels are deleted symmetrically to preserve topological and geometrical properties iteratively. Second, the structural information is generated using graph-theoretic analysis. Then inaccurate circles are removed with a distance weighting strategy, and extra branches are pruned according to clinical anatomic knowledge. The centerline region without false appendices is eventually determined after the described phases. Experimental results show that the proposed method identifies more than 96% branches and keep consistency across different cases and achieves superior circle-free structure and centrality.
authors.affiliation: Sino-Dutch Biomedical and Information Engineering School, Northeastern University, No. 3-11, Wenhua Road, Heping District, Shenyang, P.R. China Key Laboratory of Medical Image Computing of Ministry of Education, Northeastern University, No. 3-11, Wenhua Road, Heping District, Shenyang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bian
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Medical Image Computing of Ministry of Education, Northeastern University, No. 3-11, Wenhua Road, Heping District, Shenyang, P.R. China College of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, No. 3-11, Wenhua Road, Heping District, Shenyang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wenjun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Medical Image Computing of Ministry of Education, Northeastern University, No. 3-11, Wenhua Road, Heping District, Shenyang, P.R. China College of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, No. 3-11, Wenhua Road, Heping District, Shenyang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jinzhu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Sino-Dutch Biomedical and Information Engineering School, Northeastern University, No. 3-11, Wenhua Road, Heping District, Shenyang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jiren
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Medical Image Computing of Ministry of Education, Northeastern University, No. 3-11, Wenhua Road, Heping District, Shenyang, P.R. China College of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, No. 3-11, Wenhua Road, Heping District, Shenyang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Dazhe
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D059925:Anatomic Landmarks / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D006801:Humans; D009716:Numerical Analysis, Computer-Assisted; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D014132:Trachea / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*
keywords: Airway tree; centerline extraction; graph-theoretic analysis; topological thinning