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A study of quantitative indicators for slice sorting in cine-mode 4DCT
Changhwan Kim1, Hojae Kim2, Sung-Woo Kim3
1Department of Radiation Oncology, Yonsei Cancer Center, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Plos One
|August 26, 2022
Summary
This study introduces a new method to reduce motion artifacts in four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) scans, improving radiotherapy quality. The novel 4DCT sorting strategy enhances accuracy by quantifying and addressing residual motion artifacts (RMA).
Area of Science:
- Medical Imaging
- Radiotherapy Physics
- Image Processing
Background:
- Four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) is crucial for radiotherapy planning.
- Irregular breathing patterns cause residual motion artifacts (RMA) in 4DCT, degrading image quality and treatment accuracy.
- Current 4DCT sorting methods may not adequately address RMA.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify and reduce uncertainties caused by RMA in 4DCT.
- To compare quantitative indicators for assessing RMA.
- To propose and evaluate a novel 4DCT sorting method that integrates amplitude information and quantitative RMA metrics without disrupting clinical workflow.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of quantitative indicators for RMA.
- Development and implementation of a new 4DCT sorting strategy incorporating external surrogate amplitude and RMA metrics.
- Evaluation using 10 breath-hold (BH) CT and 30 4DCT cases.
- Validation against visual criteria-based manual sorting.
Main Results:
- Normalized root-mean-square-deviation (N-RMSD) was identified as the most suitable quantitative indicator for RMA, aligning with visual assessment standards.
- The proposed 4DCT sorting method demonstrated an 18.8% average improvement in N-RMSD compared to the default phase sorting method.
- The new method effectively reduces 4DCT uncertainties originating from respiratory motion.
Conclusions:
- N-RMSD is a reliable metric for quantifying RMA in 4DCT.
- The proposed 4DCT sorting strategy offers a practical and effective approach to mitigate motion artifacts.
- This study presents the first evaluation of RMA indicators and an improved 4DCT sorting strategy validated against manual sorting and clinical data.
