DenseUNets with feedback non-local attention for the segmentation of specular microscopy images of the corneal endothelium with guttae.

Corneal guttae, which are the abnormal growth of extracellular matrix in the corneal endothelium, are observed in specular images as black droplets that occlude the endothelial cells. To estimate the corneal parameters (endothelial cell density [ECD], coefficient of variation [CV], and hexagonality [HEX]), we propose a new deep learning method that includes a novel attention mechanism (named fNLA), which helps to infer the cell edges in the occluded areas. The approach first derives the cell edges, then infers the well-detected cells, and finally employs a postprocessing method to fix mistakes. This results in a binary segmentation from which the corneal parameters are estimated. We analyzed 1203 images (500 contained guttae) obtained with a Topcon SP-1P microscope. To generate the ground truth, we performed manual segmentation in all images. Several networks were evaluated (UNet, ResUNeXt, DenseUNets, UNet++, etc.) and we found that DenseUNets with fNLA provided the lowest error: a mean absolute error of 23.16 [cells/mm[Formula: see text]] in ECD, 1.28 [%] in CV, and 3.13 [%] in HEX. Compared with Topcon's built-in software, our error was 3-6 times smaller. Overall, our approach handled notably well the cells affected by guttae, detecting cell edges partially occluded by small guttae and discarding large areas covered by extensive guttae.

Attenuation coefficient estimation in Fourier-domain OCT of multi-layered phantoms.

Optical properties, such as the attenuation coefficients of multi-layer tissue samples, could be used as a biomarker for diagnosis and disease progression in clinical practice. In this paper, we present a method to estimate the attenuation coefficients in a multi-layer sample by fitting a single scattering model for the OCT signal to the recorded OCT signal. In addition, we employ numerical simulations to obtain the theoretically achievable precision and accuracy of the estimated parameters under various experimental conditions. Finally, the method is applied to two sets of measurements obtained from a multi-layer phantom by two experimental OCT systems: one with a large and one with a small Rayleigh length. Numerical and experimental results show an accurate estimation of the attenuation coefficients when using multiple B-scans.

Analysis of attenuation coefficient estimation in Fourier-domain OCT of semi-infinite media.

The attenuation coefficient (AC) is an optical property of tissue that can be estimated from optical coherence tomography (OCT) data. In this paper, we aim to estimate the AC accurately by compensating for the shape of the focused beam. For this, we propose a method to estimate the axial PSF model parameters and AC by fitting a model for an OCT signal in a homogenous sample to the recorded OCT signal. In addition, we employ numerical analysis to obtain the theoretical optimal precision of the estimated parameters for different experimental setups. Finally, the method is applied to OCT B-scans obtained from homogeneous samples. The numerical and experimental results show accurate estimations of the AC and the focus location when the focus is located inside the sample.

Deep Learning for Assessing the Corneal Endothelium from Specular Microscopy Images up to 1 Year after Ultrathin-DSAEK Surgery.

Purpose: To present a fully automatic method to estimate the corneal endothelium parameters from specular microscopy images and to use it to study a one-year follow-up after ultrathin Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty. Methods: We analyzed 383 post ultrathin Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty images from 41 eyes acquired with a Topcon SP-1P specular microscope at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. The estimated parameters were endothelial cell density (ECD), coefficient of variation (CV), and hexagonality (HEX). Manual segmentation was performed in all images. Results: Our method provided an estimate for ECD, CV, and HEX in 98.4% of the images, whereas Topcon's software had a success rate of 71.5% for ECD/CV and 30.5% for HEX. For the images with estimates, the percentage error in our method was 2.5% for ECD, 5.7% for CV, and 5.7% for HEX, whereas Topcon's software provided an error of 7.5% for ECD, 17.5% for CV, and 18.3% for HEX. Our method was significantly better than Topcon's (P < 0.0001) and was not statistically significantly different from the manual assessments (P > 0.05). At month 12, the subjects presented an average ECD = 1377 ± 483 [cells/mm2], CV = 26.1 ± 5.7 [%], and HEX = 58.1 ± 7.1 [%]. Conclusions: The proposed method obtains reliable and accurate estimations even in challenging specular images of pathologic corneas. Translational Relevance: CV and HEX, not currently used in the clinic owing to a lack of reliability in automatic methods, are useful biomarkers to analyze the postoperative healing process. Our accurate estimations allow now for their clinical use.

An Efficient Method for Multi-Parameter Mapping in Quantitative MRI Using B-Spline Interpolation.

Quantitative MRI methods that estimate multiple physical parameters simultaneously often require the fitting of a computational complex signal model defined through the Bloch equations. Repeated Bloch simulations can be avoided by matching the measured signal with a precomputed signal dictionary on a discrete parameter grid (i.e. lookup table) as used in MR Fingerprinting. However, accurate estimation requires discretizing each parameter with a high resolution and consequently high computational and memory costs for dictionary generation, storage, and matching. Here, we reduce the required parameter resolution by approximating the signal between grid points through B-spline interpolation. The interpolant and its gradient are evaluated efficiently which enables a least-squares fitting method for parameter mapping. The resolution of each parameter was minimized while obtaining a user-specified interpolation accuracy. The method was evaluated by phantom and in-vivo experiments using fully-sampled and undersampled unbalanced (FISP) MR fingerprinting acquisitions. Bloch simulations incorporated relaxation effects (T1,T2) , proton density (PD ) , receiver phase ( φ0 ), transmit field inhomogeneity ( B1+ ), and slice profile. Parameter maps were compared with those obtained from dictionary matching, where the parameter resolution was chosen to obtain similar signal (interpolation) accuracy. For both the phantom and the in-vivo acquisition, the proposed method approximated the parameter maps obtained through dictionary matching while reducing the parameter resolution in each dimension ( T1,T2,B1+ ) by - on average - an order of magnitude. In effect, the applied dictionary was reduced from 1.47GB to 464KB . Furthermore, the proposed method was equally robust against undersampling artifacts as dictionary matching. Dictionary fitting with B-spline interpolation reduces the computational and memory costs of dictionary-based methods and is therefore a promising method for multi-parametric mapping.

A pharmacokinetic model including arrival time for two inputs and compensating for varying applied flip-angle in dynamic gadoxetic acid-enhanced MR imaging.

PURPOSE: Pharmacokinetic models facilitate assessment of properties of the micro-vascularization based on DCE-MRI data. However, accurate pharmacokinetic modeling in the liver is challenging since it has two vascular inputs and it is subject to large deformation and displacement due to respiration. METHODS: We propose an improved pharmacokinetic model for the liver that (1) analytically models the arrival-time of the contrast agent for both inputs separately; (2) implicitly compensates for signal fluctuations that can be modeled by varying applied flip-angle e.g. due to B1-inhomogeneity. Orton's AIF model is used to analytically represent the vascular input functions. The inputs are independently embedded into the Sourbron model. B1-inhomogeneity-driven variations of flip-angles are accounted for to justify the voxel's displacement with respect to a pre-contrast image. RESULTS: The new model was shown to yield lower root mean square error (RMSE) after fitting the model to all but a minority of voxels compared to Sourbron's approach. Furthermore, it outperformed this existing model in the majority of voxels according to three model-selection criteria. CONCLUSION: Our work primarily targeted to improve pharmacokinetic modeling for DCE-MRI of the liver. However, other types of pharmacokinetic models may also benefit from our approaches, since the techniques are generally applicable.

Convolutional neural network-based regression for biomarker estimation in corneal endothelium microscopy images.

The morphometric parameters of the corneal endothelium - cell density (ECD), cell size variation (CV), and hexagonality (HEX) - provide clinically relevant information about the cornea. To estimate these parameters, the endothelium is commonly imaged with a non-contact specular microscope and cell segmentation is performed to these images. In previous work, we have developed several methods that, combined, can perform an automated estimation of the parameters: the inference of the cell edges, the detection of the region of interest (ROI), a post-processing method that combines both images (edges and ROI), and a refinement method that removes false edges. In this work, we first explore the possibility of using a CNN-based regressor to directly infer the parameters from the edge images, simplifying the framework. We use a dataset of 738 images coming from a study related to the implantation of a Baerveldt glaucoma device and a standard clinical care regarding DSAEK corneal transplantation, both from the Rotterdam Eye Hospital and both containing images of unhealthy endotheliums. This large dataset allows us to build a large training set that makes this approach feasible. We achieved a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 4.32% for ECD, 7.07% for CV, and 11.74% for HEX. These results, while promising, do not outperform our previous work. In a second experiment, we explore the use of the CNN-based regressor to improve the post-processing method of our previous approach in order to adapt it to the specifics of each image. Our results showed no clear benefit and proved that our previous post-processing is already highly reliable and robust.

Fully convolutional architecture vs sliding-window CNN for corneal endothelium cell segmentation.

BACKGROUND: Corneal endothelium (CE) images provide valuable clinical information regarding the health state of the cornea. Computation of the clinical morphometric parameters requires the segmentation of endothelial cell images. Current techniques to image the endothelium in vivo deliver low quality images, which makes automatic segmentation a complicated task. Here, we present two convolutional neural networks (CNN) to segment CE images: a global fully convolutional approach based on U-net, and a local sliding-window network (SW-net). We propose to use probabilistic labels instead of binary, we evaluate a preprocessing method to enhance the contrast of images, and we introduce a postprocessing method based on Fourier analysis and watershed to convert the CNN output images into the final cell segmentation. Both methods are applied to 50 images acquired with an SP-1P Topcon specular microscope. Estimates are compared against a manual delineation made by a trained observer. RESULTS: U-net (AUC=0.9938) yields slightly sharper, clearer images than SW-net (AUC=0.9921). After postprocessing, U-net obtains a DICE=0.981 and a MHD=0.22 (modified Hausdorff distance), whereas SW-net yields a DICE=0.978 and a MHD=0.30. U-net generates a wrong cell segmentation in only 0.48% of the cells, versus 0.92% for the SW-net. U-net achieves statistically significant better precision and accuracy than both, Topcon and SW-net, for the estimates of three clinical parameters: cell density (ECD), polymegethism (CV), and pleomorphism (HEX). The mean relative error in U-net for the parameters is 0.4% in ECD, 2.8% in CV, and 1.3% in HEX. The computation time to segment an image and estimate the parameters is barely a few seconds. CONCLUSIONS: Both methods presented here provide a statistically significant improvement over the state of the art. U-net has reached the smallest error rate. We suggest a segmentation refinement based on our previous work to further improve the performance.

Corneal Endothelial Cell Segmentation by Classifier-Driven Merging of Oversegmented Images.

Corneal endothelium images obtained by in vivo specular microscopy provide important information to assess the health status of the cornea. Estimation of clinical parameters, such as cell density, polymegethism, and pleomorphism, requires accurate cell segmentation. State-of-the-art techniques to automatically segment the endothelium are error-prone when applied to images with low contrast and/or large variation in cell size. Here, we propose an automatic method to segment the endothelium. Starting with an oversegmented image comprised of superpixels obtained from a stochastic watershed segmentation, the proposed method uses intensity and shape information of the superpixels to identify and merge those that constitute a cell, using support vector machines. We evaluated the automatic segmentation on a data set of in vivo specular microscopy images (Topcon SP-1P), obtaining 95.8% correctly merged cells and 2.0% undersegmented cells. We also evaluated the parameter estimation against the results of the vendor's built-in software, obtaining a statistically significant better precision in all parameters and a similar or better accuracy. The parameter estimation was also evaluated on three other data sets from different imaging modalities (confocal microscopy, phase-contrast microscopy, and fluorescence confocal microscopy) and tissue types (ex vivo corneal endothelium and retinal pigment epithelium). In comparison with the estimates of the data sets' authors, we achieved statistically significant better accuracy and precision in all parameters except pleomorphism, where a similar accuracy and precision were obtained.

Comparison of Multi-Tensor Diffusion Models' Performance for White Matter Integrity Estimation in Chronic Stroke.

Better insight into white matter (WM) alterations after stroke onset could help to understand the underlying recovery mechanisms and improve future interventions. MR diffusion imaging enables to assess such changes. Our goal was to investigate the relation of WM diffusion characteristics derived from diffusion models of increasing complexity with the motor function of the upper limb. Moreover, we aimed to evaluate the variation of such characteristics across different WM structures of chronic stroke patients in comparison to healthy subjects. Subjects were scanned with a two b-value diffusion-weighted MRI protocol to exploit multiple diffusion models: single tensor, single tensor with isotropic compartment, bi-tensor model, bi-tensor with isotropic compartment. From each model we derived the mean tract fractional anisotropy (FA), mean (MD), radial (RD) and axial (AD) diffusivities outside the lesion site based on a WM tracts atlas. Asymmetry of these measures was correlated with the Fugl-Meyer upper extremity assessment (FMA) score and compared between patient and control groups. Eighteen chronic stroke patients and eight age-matched healthy individuals participated in the study. Significant correlation of the outcome measures with the clinical scores of stroke recovery was found. The lowest correlation of the corticospinal tract FAasymmetry and FMA was with the single tensor model (r = -0.3, p = 0.2) whereas the other models reported results in the range of r = -0.79 ÷ -0.81 and p = 4E-5 ÷ 8E-5. The corticospinal tract and superior longitudinal fasciculus showed most alterations in our patient group relative to controls. Multiple compartment models yielded superior correlation of the diffusion measures and FMA compared to the single tensor model.

Comparison of image reconstruction techniques for optical projection tomography.

We present a comparison of image reconstruction techniques for optical projection tomography. We compare conventional filtered back projection, sinogram filtering using the frequency-distance relationship (FDR), image deconvolution, and 2D point-spread-function-based iterative reconstruction. The latter three methods aim to remove the spatial blurring in the reconstructed image originating from the limited depth of field caused by the point spread function of the imaging system. The methods are compared based on simulated data, experimental optical projection tomography data of single fluorescent beads, and high-resolution optical projection tomography imaging of an entire zebrafish larva. We demonstrate that the FDR method performs poorly on data acquired with high numerical aperture optical imaging systems. We show that the deconvolution technique performs best on highly sparse data with low signal-to-noise ratio. The point-spread-function-based reconstruction method is superior for nonsparse objects and data of high signal-to-noise ratio.

Semiautomatic Assessment of the Terminal Ileum and Colon in Patients with Crohn Disease Using MRI (the VIGOR++ Project).

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to develop and validate a predictive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) activity score for ileocolonic Crohn disease activity based on both subjective and semiautomatic MRI features. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An MRI activity score (the "virtual gastrointestinal tract [VIGOR]" score) was developed from 27 validated magnetic resonance enterography datasets, including subjective radiologist observation of mural T2 signal and semiautomatic measurements of bowel wall thickness, excess volume, and dynamic contrast enhancement (initial slope of increase). A second subjective score was developed based on only radiologist observations. For validation, two observers applied both scores and three existing scores to a prospective dataset of 106 patients (59 women, median age 33) with known Crohn disease, using the endoscopic Crohn's Disease Endoscopic Index of Severity (CDEIS) as a reference standard. RESULTS: The VIGOR score (17.1 × initial slope of increase + 0.2 × excess volume + 2.3 × mural T2) and other activity scores all had comparable correlation to the CDEIS scores (observer 1: r = 0.58 and 0.59, and observer 2: r = 0.34-0.40 and 0.43-0.51, respectively). The VIGOR score, however, improved interobserver agreement compared to the other activity scores (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.81 vs 0.44-0.59). A diagnostic accuracy of 80%-81% was seen for the VIGOR score, similar to the other scores. CONCLUSIONS: The VIGOR score achieves comparable accuracy to conventional MRI activity scores, but with significantly improved reproducibility, favoring its use for disease monitoring and therapy evaluation.

A hybrid optimization strategy for registering images with large local deformations and intensity variations.

PURPOSE: To develop a method for intra-patient registration of pre- and post-contrast abdominal MR images with large local deformations and large intensity variations. METHOD: A hybrid method is proposed to deal with this problem. It consists of two coupled techniques: (1) descriptor matching (DM) at the original resolution using a discrete optimization strategy to avoid getting trapped in a local minimum; (2) continuous optimization to refine the registration outcome based on autocorrelation of local image structure (ALOST). Our method-called DM-ALOST-has become insensitive to the local uptake of contrast agent by exploiting the mean phase and the phase congruency extracted from the multi-scale monogenic signal. The method was extensively tested on abdominal MR data of 30 patients with Crohn's disease. RESULTS: DM-ALOST produced significantly larger mean Dice coefficients than two state-of-the-art methods [Formula: see text]. CONCLUSION: Both qualitative and quantitative tests demonstrated improved registration using the proposed method compared to the state-of-the-art. The DM-ALOST method facilitates measurement of corresponding features from different abdominal MR images, which can aid to assess certain diseases, particularly Crohn's disease.

An Automated System for the Detection and Classification of Retinal Changes Due to Red Lesions in Longitudinal Fundus Images.

People with diabetes mellitus need annual screening to check for the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Tracking small retinal changes due to early diabetic retinopathy lesions in longitudinal fundus image sets is challenging due to intra- and intervisit variability in illumination and image quality, the required high registration accuracy, and the subtle appearance of retinal lesions compared to other retinal features. This paper presents a robust and flexible approach for automated detection of longitudinal retinal changes due to small red lesions by exploiting normalized fundus images that significantly reduce illumination variations and improve the contrast of small retinal features. To detect spatio-temporal retinal changes, the absolute difference between the extremes of the multiscale blobness responses of fundus images from two time points is proposed as a simple and effective blobness measure. DR related changes are then identified based on several intensity and shape features by a support vector machine classifier. The proposed approach was evaluated in the context of a regular diabetic retinopathy screening program involving subjects ranging from healthy (no retinal lesion) to moderate (with clinically relevant retinal lesions) DR levels. Evaluation shows that the system is able to detect retinal changes due to small red lesions with a sensitivity of at an average false positive rate of 1 and 2.5 lesions per eye on small and large fields-of-view of the retina, respectively.

Estimating the arterial input function from dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI data with compensation for flow enhancement (I): Theory, method, and phantom experiments.

BACKGROUND: The arterial input function (AIF) represents the time-dependent arterial contrast agent (CA) concentration that is used in pharmacokinetic modeling. PURPOSE: To develop a novel method for estimating the AIF from dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE-) MRI data, while compensating for flow enhancement. STUDY TYPE: Signal simulation and phantom measurements. PHANTOM MODEL: Time-intensity curves (TICs) were simulated for different numbers of excitation pulses modeling flow effects. A phantom experiment was performed in which a solution (without CA) was passed through a straight tube, at constant flow velocity. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: Dynamic fast spoiled gradient echo (FSPGRs) at 3T MRI, both in the simulations and in the phantom experiment. TICs were generated for a duration of 373 seconds and sampled at intervals of 1.247 seconds (300 timepoints). ASSESSMENT: The proposed method first estimates the number of pulses that spins have received, and then uses this knowledge to accurately estimate the CA concentration. STATISTICAL TESTS: The difference between the median of the estimated number of pulses and the true value was determined, as well as the interquartile range (IQR) of the estimations. The estimated CA concentrations were evaluated in the same way. The estimated number of pulses was also used to calculate flow velocity. RESULTS: The difference between the median estimated and reference number of pulses varied from -0.005 to -1.371 (corresponding IQRs: 0.853 and 48.377) at true values of 10 and 180 pulses, respectively. The difference between the median estimated CA concentration and the reference value varied from -0.00015 to 0.00306 mmol/L (corresponding IQRs: 0.01989 and 1.51013 mmol/L) at true values of 0.5 and 8.0 mmol/l, respectively, at an intermediate value of 100 pulses. The estimated flow velocities in the phantom were within 10% of the reference value. DATA CONCLUSION: The proposed method accurately corrects the MRI signal affected by the inflow effect. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 1 Technical Efficacy: Stage 1 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2018;47:1190-1196.

Estimating the arterial input function from dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI data with compensation for flow enhancement (II): Applications in spine diagnostics and assessment of crohn's disease.

BACKGROUND: Pharmacokinetic (PK) models can describe microvascular density and integrity. An essential component of PK models is the arterial input function (AIF) representing the time-dependent concentration of contrast agent (CA) in the blood plasma supplied to a tissue. PURPOSE/HYPOTHESIS: To evaluate a novel method for subject-specific AIF estimation that takes inflow effects into account. STUDY TYPE: Retrospective study. SUBJECTS: Thirteen clinical patients referred for spine-related complaints; 21 patients from a study into luminal Crohn's disease with known Crohn's Disease Endoscopic Index of Severity (CDEIS). FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: Dynamic fast spoiled gradient echo (FSPGR) at 3T. ASSESSMENT: A population-averaged AIF, AIFs derived from distally placed regions of interest (ROIs), and the new AIF method were applied. Tofts' PK model parameters (including vp and Ktrans ) obtained with the three AIFs were compared. In the Crohn's patients Ktrans was correlated to CDEIS. STATISTICAL TESTS: The median values of the PK model parameters from the three methods were compared using a Mann-Whitney U-test. The associated variances were statistically assessed by the Brown-Forsythe test. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was computed to test the correlation of Ktrans to CDEIS. RESULTS: The median vp was significantly larger when using the distal ROI approach, compared to the two other methods (P < 0.05 for both comparisons, in both applications). Also, the variances in vp were significantly larger with the ROI approach (P < 0.05 for all comparisons). In the Crohn's disease study, the estimated Ktrans parameter correlated better with the CDEIS (r = 0.733, P < 0.001) when the proposed AIF was used, compared to AIFs from the distal ROI method (r = 0.429, P = 0.067) or the population-averaged AIF (r = 0.567, P = 0.011). DATA CONCLUSION: The proposed method yielded realistic PK model parameters and improved the correlation of the Ktrans parameter with CDEIS, compared to existing approaches. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3 Technical Efficacy Stage 1 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2018;47:1197-1204.

Point spread function based image reconstruction in optical projection tomography.

As a result of the shallow depth of focus of the optical imaging system, the use of standard filtered back projection in optical projection tomography causes space-variant tangential blurring that increases with the distance to the rotation axis. We present a novel optical tomographic image reconstruction technique that incorporates the point spread function of the imaging lens in an iterative reconstruction. The technique is demonstrated using numerical simulations, tested on experimental optical projection tomography data of single fluorescent beads, and applied to high-resolution emission optical projection tomography imaging of an entire zebrafish larva. Compared to filtered back projection our results show greatly reduced radial and tangential blurring over the entire [Formula: see text] mm2 field of view, and a significantly improved signal to noise ratio.

Impact of partial coherence on the apparent optical transfer function derived from the response to amplitude edges.

We present an investigation of the impact of partial coherence on optical imaging systems with the focus on whole slide imaging (WSI) systems for digital pathology. The investigation is based on the analysis of the edge response of the optical system, which gives rise to an apparent optical transfer function (OTF) that can be linked to two elementary complex functions Q and U. The function Q is directly related to the transmission cross coefficient (TCC) and can be identified with the performance function first introduced by Kintner and Sillitto. The function U depends on the TCC in a more involved way. When there are no aberrations the Q-function corresponds to the real part of the apparent OTF and the U function to the imaginary part of the apparent OTF. Close to the incoherent limit the effect of the U function is a mere shift of the edge compared to the fully incoherent case. We propose a new expression for the dependence of the depth of focus (DOF) on spatial frequency and on the partial coherence factor σ, and validate it by simulation. Partial coherence effects are investigated experimentally on a WSI system with a compact LED-based Köhler illumination unit with variable condenser NA. This unit incorporates a top hat diffuser for providing a reasonably uniform illumination field, with variations below 10% across the imaged field of view. The measurements of the apparent through-focus OTF derived from edges on a custom resolution chart for different σ were substantially in agreement with the simulations. Finding an optimal value for σ is not straightforward as lateral resolution and the level of edge ringing improve with increasing σ, whereas edge contrast and DOF improve with decreasing σ. We assess that the trade-off for the particular application of WSI systems for digital pathology is optimized for a σ value in the range of 0.55-0.75.

Semi-automatic bowel wall thickness measurements on MR enterography in patients with Crohn's disease.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a semi-automatic method for delineation of the bowel wall and measurement of the wall thickness in patients with Crohn's disease. METHODS: 53 patients with suspected or proven Crohn's disease were selected. Two radiologists independently supervised the delineation of regions with active Crohn's disease on MRI, yielding manual annotations (Ano1, Ano2). Three observers manually measured the maximal bowel wall thickness of each annotated segment. An active contour segmentation approach semi-automatically delineated the bowel wall. For each active region, two segmentations (Seg1, Seg2) were obtained by independent observers, in which the maximum wall thickness was automatically determined. The overlap between (Seg1, Seg2) was compared with the overlap of (Ano1, Ano2) using Wilcoxon's signed rank test. The corresponding variances were compared using the Brown-Forsythe test. The variance of the semi-automatic thickness measurements was compared with the overall variance of manual measurements through an F-test. Furthermore, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of semi-automatic thickness measurements was compared with the ICC of manual measurements through a likelihood-ratio test. RESULTS: Patient demographics: median age, 30 years; interquartile range, 25-38 years; 33 females. The median overlap of the semi-automatic segmentations (Seg1 vs Seg2: 0.89) was significantly larger than the median overlap of the manual annotations (Ano1 vs Ano2: 0.72); p = 1.4 × 10-5. The variance in overlap of the semi-automatic segmentations was significantly smaller than the variance in overlap of the manual annotations (p = 1.1 × 10-9). The variance of the semi-automated measurements (0.46 mm2) was significantly smaller than the variance of the manual measurements (2.90 mm2, p = 1.1 × 10-7). The ICC of semi-automatic measurement (0.88) was significantly higher than the ICC of manual measurement (0.45); p = 0.005. CONCLUSION: The semi-automatic technique facilitates reproducible delineation of regions with active Crohn's disease. The semi-automatic thickness measurement sustains significantly improved interobserver agreement. Advances in knowledge: Automation of bowel wall thickness measurements strongly increases reproducibility of these measurements, which are commonly used in MRI scoring systems of Crohn's disease activity.

Simulation of scanner- and patient-specific low-dose CT imaging from existing CT images.

PURPOSE: Simulating low-dose Computed Tomography (CT) facilitates in-silico studies into the required dose for a diagnostic task. Conventionally, low-dose CT images are created by adding noise to the projection data. However, in practice the raw data is often simply not available. This paper presents a new method for simulating patient-specific, low-dose CT images without the need of the original projection data. METHODS: The low-dose CT simulation method included the following: (1) computation of a virtual sinogram from a high dose CT image through a radon transform; (2) simulation of a 'reduced'-dose sinogram with appropriate amounts of noise; (3) subtraction of the high-dose virtual sinogram from the reduced-dose sinogram; (4) reconstruction of a noise volume via filtered back-projection; (5) addition of the noise image to the original high-dose image. The required scanner-specific parameters, such as the apodization window, bowtie filter, the X-ray tube output parameter (reflecting the photon flux) and the detector read-out noise, were retrieved from calibration images of a water cylinder. The low-dose simulation method was evaluated by comparing the noise characteristics in simulated images with experimentally acquired data. RESULTS: The models used to recover the scanner-specific parameters fitted accurately to the calibration data, and the values of the parameters were comparable to values reported in literature. Finally, the simulated low-dose images accurately reproduced the noise characteristics in experimentally acquired low-dose-volumes. CONCLUSION: The developed methods truthfully simulate low-dose CT imaging for a specific scanner and reconstruction using filtered backprojection. The scanner-specific parameters can be estimated from calibration data.