Comparison of 2D and 3D lung lobe quantification with Ventilation/Perfusion Ratio

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Medicine
• Radiology
• Medical Imaging Analysis

Background:

• Standard 2D lung lobe quantification lacks precision in ventilation-perfusion ratio (VQR) analysis.
• Investigating advanced 3D quantification methods is crucial for improving diagnostic accuracy in pulmonary embolism (PE) detection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the clinical benefit and accuracy of two 3D lung lobe quantification software tools against standard 2D methods.
• To evaluate the performance of 3D versus 2D quantification in VQR analysis using receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis.

Main Methods:

• Fifty patients underwent planar lung scintigraphy and SPECT/CT for VQR analysis.
• 2D analysis was performed using Syngo Workstation; 3D analysis utilized QLUNG and LLQ software.
• ROC analysis with area under the curve (AUC) and DeLong comparison determined method accuracy.

Main Results:

• Both 3D software tools (QLUNG, LLQ) demonstrated robust and comparable results.
• Average AUC for 2D analysis was 0.39, while 3D analysis (LLQ/QLUNG) achieved an average AUC of 0.58.
• A significant difference in performance was observed, favoring 3D quantification.

Conclusions:

• 3D lung lobe quantification significantly outperforms standard 2D analysis in accuracy.
• The study recommends the adoption of 3D approaches for lung lobe quantification in clinical practice.