Quantitative lung SPECT applied on simulated early COPD and humans with advanced COPD.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Reduced ventilation in lung regions affected by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), reflected as inhomogeneities in the single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) lung image, is correlated to disease advancement. An analysis method for measuring these inhomogeneities is proposed in this work. The first aim was to develop a quantitative analysis method that could discriminate between Monte Carlo simulated normal and COPD lung SPECT images. A second aim was to evaluate the ability of the present method to discriminate between human subjects with advanced COPD and healthy volunteers.

Methods

In the simulated COPD study, different activity distributions in the lungs were created to mimic the healthy lung (normal) and different levels of COPD. Gamma c

SUBMITTER: Norberg P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3706344 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature