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Changes of intrathoracic trachea with respiration in children: A metrical assessment based on 3D CT models
Michaela Cellina1, Daniele Gibelli2, Chiara Floridi3
1Department of Radiology, Ospedale Fatebenefratelli, ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco, Milano, Piazza Principessa Clotilde 3, 20121 Milano, Italy.
Aim:
To assess the tracheal volume and the effect of respiration through segmentation on CT-scans in children.
Material And Methods:
Chest-CT of 100 patients divided into males and females, aged 3-16 years, were retrospectively assessed. Subjects underwent inspiratory and expiratory CT-scans. Tracheal volume was segmented through ITK-SNAP software. Volume, length, anteroposterior, laterolateral diameters, and T1-T10 distance were measured. The percentage ratio between expiratory and inspiratory phases was calculated: significant differences according to sex for inspiratory and expiratory measurements were assessed through a one-way ANCOVA test using T1-T10 distance as covariate (p < 0.05). Differences in percentage changes according to sex and age were assessed through Mann-Whitney test and calculation of Pearson's correlation coefficient, respectively (p < 0.05).
Results:
No statistically significant difference according to sex was found for any measurement (p > 0.05). For the percentage ratio between inspiratory and expiratory phase, no difference was found according to sex for any measurement (p > 0.05). The percentage ratio of tracheal volume and length between expiratory and inspiratory phases showed a negative correlation with age (p < 0.05).
Conclusions:
This study provides a novel contribution to the assessment of tracheal size in healthy children: future studies will verify the same measurements in patients affected by tracheomalacia to improve diagnosis.
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