CT-guided automated detection of lung tumors on PET images

Yunfeng Cui; Binsheng Zhao; Timothy J. Akhurst; Jiayong Yan; Lawrence H. Schwartz

doi:10.1117/12.770549

17 March 2008 CT-guided automated detection of lung tumors on PET images

Yunfeng Cui, Binsheng Zhao, Timothy J. Akhurst, Jiayong Yan, Lawrence H. Schwartz

Proceedings Volume 6915, Medical Imaging 2008: Computer-Aided Diagnosis; 69152N (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.770549
Event: Medical Imaging, 2008, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The calculation of standardized uptake values (SUVs) in tumors on serial [¹⁸F]2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (¹⁸F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) images is often used for the assessment of therapy response. We present a computerized method that automatically detects lung tumors on ¹⁸F-FDG PET/Computed Tomography (CT) images using both anatomic and metabolic information. First, on CT images, relevant organs, including lung, bone, liver and spleen, are automatically identified and segmented based on their locations and intensity distributions. Hot spots (SUV >= 1.5) on ¹⁸F-FDG PET images are then labeled using the connected component analysis. The resultant "hot objects" (geometrically connected hot spots in three dimensions) that fall into, reside at the edges or are in the vicinity of the lungs are considered as tumor candidates. To determine true lesions, further analyses are conducted, including reduction of tumor candidates by the masking out of hot objects within CT-determined normal organs, and analysis of candidate tumors' locations, intensity distributions and shapes on both CT and PET. The method was applied to ¹⁸F-FDG-PET/CT scans from 9 patients, on which 31 target lesions had been identified by a nuclear medicine radiologist during a Phase II lung cancer clinical trial. Out of 31 target lesions, 30 (97%) were detected by the computer method. However, sensitivity and specificity were not estimated because not all lesions had been marked up in the clinical trial. The method effectively excluded the hot spots caused by mediastinum, liver, spleen, skeletal muscle and bone metastasis.

Citation Download Citation

Yunfeng Cui, Binsheng Zhao, Timothy J. Akhurst, Jiayong Yan, and Lawrence H. Schwartz "CT-guided automated detection of lung tumors on PET images", Proc. SPIE 6915, Medical Imaging 2008: Computer-Aided Diagnosis, 69152N (17 March 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.770549

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