A differential geometric approach to automated segmentation of human airway tree.

Airway diseases are frequently associated with morphological changes that may affect the physiology of the lungs. Accurate characterization of airways may be useful for quantitatively assessing prognosis and for monitoring therapeutic efficacy. The information gained may also provide insight into the underlying mechanisms of various lung diseases.

Compare display schemes for lung nodule CT screening.

This study investigated the relative efficiencies of a stereographic display and two monoscopic display schemes for detecting lung nodules in chest computed tomography (CT). The ultimate goal was to determine whether stereoscopic display provides advantages for visualization and interpretation of three-dimensional (3D) medical image datasets. A retrospective study that compared lung nodule detection performances achieved using three different schemes for displaying 3D CT data was conducted.

Digital breast tomosynthesis: a pilot observer study.

Objective: The objective of our study was to assess ergonomic and diagnostic performance-related issues associated with the interpretation of digital breast tomosynthesis-generated examinations.

Materials And Methods: Thirty selected cases were read under three different display conditions by nine experienced radiologists in a fully crossed, mode-balanced observer performance study. The reading modes included full-field digital mammography (FFDM) alone, the 11 low-dose projections acquired for the reconstruction of tomosynthesis images, and the reconstructed digital breast tomosynthesis examination.

Real-time stereographic rendering and display of medical images with programmable GPUs.

The study was to explore the power and feasibility of using programmable graphics processing units (GPUs) for real-time rendering and displaying large 3D medical datasets for stereoscopic display workstation. Lung cancer screening CT images were used for developing GPU-based stereo rendering and displaying. The study was run on a personal computer with a 128 MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 1100 graphics card.

Characterization of radiologists' search strategies for lung nodule detection: slice-based versus volumetric displays.

The goal of this study was to assess whether radiologists' search paths for lung nodule detection in chest computed tomography (CT) between different rendering and display schemes have reliable properties that can be exploited as an indicator of ergonomic efficiency for the purpose of comparing different display paradigms. Eight radiologists retrospectively viewed 30 lung cancer screening CT exams, containing a total of 91 nodules, in each of three display modes [i.e.

Stereo CT image compositing methods for lung nodule detection and characterization.

Rationale And Objectives: Stereographic display has been proposed as a possible method of improving performance in reading computed tomographic (CT) examinations acquired for lung cancer screening. Optimizing such displays is important given the large volume of image data that must be evaluated for each of these examinations. This study is designed to explore certain tradeoffs between rendering methods designed for the stereo display of CT images.

A method to test the reproducibility and to improve performance of computer-aided detection schemes for digitized mammograms.

The purpose of this study is to develop a new method for assessment of the reproducibility of computer-aided detection (CAD) schemes for digitized mammograms and to evaluate the possibility of using the implemented approach for improving CAD performance. Two thousand digitized mammograms (representing 500 cases) with 300 depicted verified masses were selected in the study. Series of images were generated for each digitized image by resampling after a series of slight image rotations.

Computer-aided detection schemes: the effect of limiting the number of cued regions in each case.

Objective: We assessed performance changes of a mammographic computer-aided detection scheme when we restricted the maximum number of regions that could be identified (cued) as showing positive findings in each case.

Materials And Methods: A computer-aided detection scheme was applied to 500 cases (or 2,000 images), including 300 cases in which mammograms showed verified malignant masses. We evaluated the overall case-based performance of the scheme using a free-response receiver operating characteristic approach, and we measured detection sensitivity at a fixed false-positive detection rate of 0.

Integrated density of a lesion: a quantitative, mammographically derived, invariable measure.

A method for quantitatively estimating lesion "size" from mammographic images was developed and evaluated. The main idea behind the measure, termed "integrated density" (ID), is that the total x-ray attenuation attributable to an object is theoretically invariant with respect to the projected view and object deformation. Because it is possible to estimate x-ray attenuation of a lesion from relative film densities, after appropriate corrections for background, the invariant property of the measure is expected to result in an objective method for evaluating the "sizes" of breast lesions.

Performance change of mammographic CAD schemes optimized with most-recent and prior image databases.

Rationale And Objectives: The authors evaluated performance changes in the detection of masses on "current" (latest) and "prior" images by computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) schemes that had been optimized with databases of current and prior mammograms.

Materials And Methods: The authors selected 260 pairs of matched consecutive mammograms. Each current image depicted one or two verified masses.

Automated assessment of the composition of breast tissue revealed on tissue-thickness-corrected mammography.

Objective: Variations in the thickness of a compressed breast and the resulting variations in mammographic densities confound current automated procedures for estimating tissue composition of breasts from digitized mammograms. We sought to determine whether adjusting mammographic data for tissue thickness before estimating tissue composition could improve the accuracy of the tissue estimates.

Materials And Methods: We developed methods for locally estimating breast thickness from mammograms and then adjusting pixel values so that the values correlated with the tissue composition over the breast area.

Computerized assessment of tissue composition on digitized mammograms.

Rationale And Objectives: The authors developed a computerized method for the quantitative assessment of breast tissue composition on digitized mammograms.

Materials And Methods: Three radiologists were asked to review 200 digitized mammograms and independently provide a Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System-like rating for breast tissue composition on a scale of 0 to 4. These values were incorporated into a "consensus" rating that was used as a reference point in the development and evaluation of a computerized method.