Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Quantification Using CT Texture Analysis and Densitometry: Results From the...

Area of Science:

• Radiology and Imaging
• Pulmonary Medicine
• Quantitative CT Analysis

Background:

• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) diagnosis often relies on lung function tests.
• Quantitative CT measures like densitometry are used to assess COPD.
• Lung cancer screening provides an opportunity to evaluate COPD in asymptomatic individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if texture analysis and densitometry are complementary quantitative measures for COPD.
• To assess their association with lung function and prediction of lung function decline.
• To evaluate their utility in a lung cancer screening context.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 1915 low-dose CT scans from the Danish Lung Cancer Screening Trial.
• Computation of texture score, emphysema area, and percentile density.
• Evaluation of associations with lung function (FEV1% predicted), COPD diagnosis, and lung function decline using multivariate regression and AUC analysis.

Main Results:

• Texture analysis demonstrated a stronger association with lung function and higher diagnostic AUC for COPD across GOLD grades compared to densitometry.
• Texture analysis alone predicted rapid lung function decline (AUC 0.538, p < 0.05).
• Combining texture with densitometry improved associations with lung function and its decline but not diagnostic/prognostic performance.

Conclusions:

• Texture analysis is a promising quantitative CT measure for COPD, potentially serving as a standalone or complementary tool to densitometry.
• Texture analysis may enable early COPD detection in individuals undergoing lung cancer screening.
• This quantitative CT approach offers a valuable non-invasive method for COPD assessment.