A morphological algorithm for measuring angle of airway branches in lung CT images.
Accurate measurement of human airway lumen bifurcation angle in the bronchial tree may be an important parameter for evidence of pulmonary diseases. Here, we describe a new method for recognizing and following airway bifurcation over numerous contiguous CT images. Based on morphological properties of airways and specific changes to airway properties while digitally navigating through the bifurcation, our method is able to track airways through several levels of bifurcation. Then, based on the center of the lumen area, determined by the level set segmentation algorithm, we estimate the centerline of each branch and calculate the angle between two bifurcating branches. By applying this method to an airway imaging phantom, we obtained accurate results in a short computational time. This new approach provides a rapid, automated, and accurate lung airway angle measurement and may prove useful to radiologists who use CT images for pulmonary disease assessment.
Department of Computing and Software, McMaster University, Hamilton Ontario, Canada.
Mohammadreza
M
Heydarian
Departments of computing and software engineering, electrical and computer engineering, medicine and medical physics. McMaster University, and McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering, Hamilton ON, Canada.
Michael D
MD
Noseworthy
Departments of computing and software engineering, electrical and computer engineering, medicine and medical physics. McMaster University, and McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering, Hamilton ON, Canada.
Markad V
MV
Kamath
Departments of computing and software engineering, electrical and computer engineering, medicine and medical physics. McMaster University, and McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering, Hamilton ON, Canada.
Colm
C
Boylan
Department of Computing and Software, McMaster University, Hamilton Ontario, Canada.
W F S
WF
Poehlman
D000465:Algorithms; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*