Automatic Thyroid Volume Estimation in Graves´ Disease Using Planar Scintigraphy

Individualized dosage models are usually applied for radioiodine therapy in patients with Graves´ hyperthyroidism. In these dosage plans, the thyroid volume is an important parameter. Thyroid volume determinations are usually obtained with ultrasonography or with scintigraphy. In this study, we proposed a novel thyroid volume estimation method using thyroid planar scintigraphy. An automatic thyroid volume calculation program based on image contrast enhancement and adaptive segmentation was developed. To validate the program, the results of automatic thyroid volume measurement from 34 patients were correlated with the results of ultrasonography. Our approach correlated well with ultrasonography (R²=0.97). From the satisfied result of this approach, we expect that this automatic computer-aided approach may be applied to help physicians in determination of the ¹³¹I therapy dosage to patients with Graves´ disease.