Ventilation Series Similarity: A Study for Ventilation Calculation Using Deformable Image Registration and 4DCT to Avoid Motion Artifacts

The major problem with ventilation distribution calculations using DIR and 4DCT is the motion artifacts in 4DCT. Quite often not all phases would exhibit mushroom motion artifacts. If the ventilation series similarity is sufficiently robust, the ventilation distribution can be calculated using only the artifact-free phases. This study investigated the ventilation similarity among the data derived from different respiration phases. Fifteen lung cancer cases were analyzed. In each case, DIR was performed between the end-expiration phase and all other phases. Ventilation distributions were then calculated using the deformation matrices. The similarity was compared between the series ventilation distributions. The correlation between the majority phases was reasonably good, with average SCC values between 0.28 and 0.70 for the original data and 0.30 and 0.75 after smoothing. The better correlation between the neighboring phases, with average SCC values between 0.55 and 0.70 for the original data, revealed the nonlinear property of the dynamic ventilation. DSC analysis showed the same trend. To reduce the errors if motion artifacts are present, the phases without serious mushroom artifacts may be used. To minimize the effect of the nonlinearity in dynamic ventilation, the calculation phase should be chosen as close to the end-inspiration as possible.