A computer-aided diagnosis for evaluating lung nodules on chest CT: the current status and perspective

As the detection and characterization of lung nodules are of paramount importance in thoracic radiology, various tools for making a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) have been developed to improve the diagnostic performance of radiologists in clinical practice. Numerous studies over the years have shown that the CAD system can effectively help readers identify more nodules. Moreover, nodule malignancy and the response of malignant lung tumors to treatment can also be assessed using nodule volumetry. CAD also has the potential to objectively analyze the morphology of nodules and enhance the workflow during the assessment of follow-up studies. Therefore, understanding the current status and limitations of CAD for evaluating lung nodules is essential to effectively apply CAD in clinical practice.