EFFICIENCY OF QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF LUNG COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY FINDINGS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate the efficiency of detection of emphysema in the analysis of lung computed tomography (CT) images using the “Autoplan” program and to compare the data of quantitative analysis and clinical indicators. Material and methods. Sixty patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were examined; the diagnosis was confirmed by external respiratory function evaluation; all the patients underwent inspiratory-expiratory CT using a 32-row multidetector CT scanner, followed by postprocessing in the “Autoplan” system. The features of the system were a floating threshold value, constructing a histogram, and the possibility of preserving a report and polygonal models. Echocardiography was performed to evaluate the right heart and to estimate pulmonary arterial pressure. Results. The obtained numerical values of lung density assessment (mean lung density and emphysema index) showed a high efficiency (a sensitivity of as high as 78%, a specificity of as high as 81%) in detecting emphysema. There was evidence for a relationship between the data of quantitative analysis and the values of external respiration function. Analysis of echocardiographic findings revealed that there was a relationship between emphysema index and systolic and diastolic right ventricle wall thickness (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient from -0.56 to -0.66). Conclusion. Thus, analysis of the lung density CT characteristics provides a physician with objective numerical values, which affect the progression of obstructive changes in patients and the development of signs of chronic cor pulmonale.

Keywords

• computed tomography
• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• emphysema
• quantitative analysis