MDCT-based longitudinal automated airway and air trapping analysis in school-age children with mild cystic fibrosis lung disease.

Objectives: Quantitative computed tomography (QCT) offers some promising markers to quantify cystic fibrosis (CF)-lung disease. Air trapping may precede irreversible bronchiectasis; therefore, the temporal interdependencies of functional and structural lung disease need to be further investigated. We aim to quantify airway dimensions and air trapping on chest CT of school-age children with mild CF-lung disease over two years.

Validation of automated lobe segmentation on paired inspiratory-expiratory chest CT in 8-14 year-old children with cystic fibrosis.

Objectives: Densitometry on paired inspiratory and expiratory multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) for the quantification of air trapping is an important approach to assess functional changes in airways diseases such as cystic fibrosis (CF). For a regional analysis of functional deficits, an accurate lobe segmentation algorithm applicable to inspiratory and expiratory scans is beneficial.

Materials And Methods: We developed a fully automated lobe segmentation algorithm, and subsequently validated automatically generated lobe masks (ALM) against manually corrected lobe masks (MLM).

Imaging of the pediatric airway.

Airway compromise can be fixed, dynamic (with varying degrees of collapse during the respiratory cycle), or exhibit both components. The location of the abnormality can be classified as extrinsic (located outside but exerting mass effect on the airway) or intrinsic (intramural and/or intraluminal). The etiologies of airway compromise are categorized as: congenital, infectious, inflammatory, traumatic, vascular, or neoplastic (1).