Computer-aided detection of ground glass nodules in thoracic CT images using shape, intensity and context features

Med Image Comput Comput Assist Interv. 2011;14(Pt 3):207-14. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-23626-6_26.

Abstract

Ground glass nodules (GGNs) occur less frequent in computed tomography (CT) scans than solid nodules but have a much higher chance of being malignant. Accurate detection of these nodules is therefore highly important. A complete system for computer-aided detection of GGNs is presented consisting of initial segmentation steps, candidate detection, feature extraction and a two-stage classification process. A rich set of intensity, shape and context features is constructed to describe the appearance of GGN candidates. We apply a two-stage classification approach using a linear discriminant classifier and a GentleBoost classifier to efficiently classify candidate regions. The system is trained and independently tested on 140 scans that contained one or more GGNs from around 10,000 scans obtained in a lung cancer screening trial. The system shows a high sensitivity of 73% at only one false positive per scan.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Area Under Curve
  • Clinical Trials as Topic
  • Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • False Positive Reactions
  • Humans
  • Lung Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Mass Screening
  • Models, Statistical
  • Multicenter Studies as Topic
  • Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Radiography, Thoracic / methods*
  • Solitary Pulmonary Nodule / diagnosis*
  • Solitary Pulmonary Nodule / pathology
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods*