3D human airway segmentation from high hesolution MR imaging

Abstract

In this article we present a method to extract the human airway tree from MR image. The assesment of morphometric data of bronchi is useful to estimate many diseases severity. Nowadays, the measurements are realized on CT scan which expose the patient to ionizing radiation. MRI radiation-free technique has never been used so far to extract the human bronchi because of insufficient signal and contrast. We propose in this article a processing chain to perform the 3D segmentation of the human airway tree from MR image. From this segmentation we can extract quantitative measurements on the airway, similarly to CT scan segmented airway trees. Finally we will present the results of a clinical study to prove those measurements are relevant. Replacing CT scan by MRI to assess airway diseases is mandatory for many applications (young people imaging, repeated measurements to follow-up a response to a treatment, ...) for which ionizing acquisition should be avoided. Thus, the results presented in this article open many perspectives related to lung diseases study.