Journal article
Inter- and intra-software reproducibility of computed tomography lung density measurements
Medical physics (Lancaster), Vol.47(7), pp.2962-2969
07/2020
DOI: 10.1002/mp.14130
PMCID: PMC7944589
PMID: 32160310
Abstract
Multiple commercial, open-source, and academic software tools exist for objective quantification of lung density in computed tomography (CT) images. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the intersoftware reproducibility of CT lung density measurements.
Computed tomography images from 50 participants from the COPDGene
cohort study were randomly selected for analysis; n = 10 participants across each global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease (GOLD) grade (GOLD 0-IV). Academic-based groups (n = 4) and commercial vendors (n = 4) participated anonymously to generate CT lung density measurements using their software tools. Computed tomography total lung volume (TLV), percentage of the low attenuation areas in the lung with Hounsfield unit (HU) values below -950HU (LAA
), and the HU value corresponding to the 15th percentile on the parenchymal density histogram (Perc15) were included in the analysis. The intersoftware bias and reproducibility coefficient (RDC) was generated with and without quality assurance (QA) for manual correction of the lung segmentation; intrasoftware bias and RDC was also generated by repeated measurements on the same images.
Intersoftware mean bias was within ±0.22 mL, ±0.46%, and ±0.97 HU for TLV, LAA
and Perc15, respectively. The RDC was 0.35 L, 1.2% and 1.8 HU for TLV, LAA
and Perc15, respectively. Intersoftware RDC remained unchanged following QA: 0.35 L, 1.2% and 1.8 HU for TLV, LAA
and Perc15, respectively. All software investigated had an intrasoftware RDC of 0. The RDC was comparable for TLV, LAA
and Perc15 measurements, respectively, for academic-based groups/commercial vendor-based software tools: 0.39 L/0.32 L, 1.2%/1.2%, and 1.7 HU/1.6 HU. Multivariable regression analysis showed that academic-based software tools had greater within-subject standard deviation of TLV than commercial vendors, but no significant differences between academic and commercial groups were found for LAA
or Perc15 measurements.
Computed tomography total lung volume and lung density measurement bias and reproducibility was reported across eight different software tools. Bias was negligible across vendors, reproducibility was comparable for software tools generated by academic-based groups and commercial vendors, and segmentation QA had negligible impact on measurement variability between software tools. In summary, results from this study report the amount of additional measurement variability that should be accounted for when using different software tools to measure lung density longitudinally with well-standardized image acquisition protocols. However, intrasoftware reproducibility was deterministic for all cases so use of the same software tool to reduce variability for serial studies is highly recommended.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Inter- and intra-software reproducibility of computed tomography lung density measurements
- Creators
- Miranda Kirby - Toronto Metropolitan UniversityCharles Hatt - University of Michigan–Ann ArborNancy Obuchowski - Cleveland ClinicStephen M Humphries - National Jewish HealthJered Sieren - Vida DiagnosticsDavid A Lynch - National Jewish HealthSean B Fain - University of Wisconsin–MadisonQIBA Lung Density Committee
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Medical physics (Lancaster), Vol.47(7), pp.2962-2969
- DOI
- 10.1002/mp.14130
- PMID
- 32160310
- PMCID
- PMC7944589
- ISSN
- 0094-2405
- eISSN
- 2473-4209
- Grant note
- AstraZeneca U10 HL109146 / NHLBI NIH HHS U01 HL089856 / NHLBI NIH HHS COPD Foundation GE Healthcare U01 HL089897 / NHLBI NIH HHS Genentech GlaxoSmithKline Sunovion Novartis R01 HL089897 / NHLBI NIH HHS NIH HHS
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 07/2020
- Academic Unit
- Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering; Radiology; Electrical and Computer Engineering; Health and Human Physiology
- Record Identifier
- 9984275055602771
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