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Ex-vivo injection technique for implanting solid pulmonary nodules into porcine lungs for multi-slice CT
H Bolte1, S Müller-Hülsbeck, C Riedel
1Klinik für Diagnostische Radiologie, Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany. Hendrikbolte@rad.uni-kiel.de
Purpose:
To develop a method for generating realistic pulmonary nodules that equal small pulmonary metastases and granulomas.
Materials And Methods:
A total of 70 artificial lesions were introduced into 5 inflated porcine lungs inside a dedicated chest phantom by high pressure injection of a fat-wax-Lipiodol mixture and scanned with 16-slice computed tomography (CT). Image evaluation by two experienced radiologists included analysis of morphology, nodule size and density.
Results:
The median nodule density was 78.8 Hounsfield units (HU), with 54 of 70 nodules (77.14 %) judged typical of small lung metastases.
Conclusion:
Without inducing visible damage of lung parenchyma, the injection technique produces highly realistic pulmonary nodules for morphometry or nodule detection with CT.
