Curtis Caldwell PhD, Presenter: Research Consultant, Bayer AG Research collaboration, Claron Technology Inc

Cari Marisa Whyne, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Hamid Ebrahimi BS, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Trinette Wright BEng, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Gregory M. Szilagyi BS, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Sameer Zaheer MSc, Abstract Co-Author: Employee, Claron Technology Inc

Ingmar Bitter PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Employee, Claron Technology Inc

CT imaging is an essential tool for assessment of patients with metastatic disease of the spine. There is no widely accepted, easy to use method of quantifying spinal lesions or of assessing changes in spine lesions over time or in response to treatment. In a collaboration with Claron Technologies Inc, we have been working on developing means of automated assessment of the volume of blastic and lytic sub-regions in vertebrae.Pre- and post-therapy CT scans of 28 patients with metastatic spine disease were used. Pre- and post-therapy images were automatically aligned. Spine segmentation was automated, with the software locating the vertebrae and pedicles for the cervical, thoracic and lumbar regions of the spine using an atlas based registration. Landmarks are placed by the software adjacent to each vertebra allowing identification of the edges of the vertebra. These landmarks can be manipulated if needed to change where the program has defined the edges. The cortical shell of each vertebral body was automatically stripped and trabecular bone volumes of interest (VOIs) defined. Histogram analysis was used to segment volumes that could represent lytic or blastic tissues. Volumes of lytic or blastic tissue were compared with the volumes defined by a radiologist.

196 blastic regions and 194 lytic regions were available for comparison. Complete analysis for a single patient (all vertebral bodies) took on average 3 minutes. In 6 patients, no modification of the landmarks was necessary. In 14, minor corrections were needed, while in 8 patients major modification was required. In no case did landmark modification take more than a minute to complete. For both the lytic and blastic regions, the volume defined by the expert observer and those defined by the automated technique were stongly correlated, as was the measure of change in these volumes over time.

Lytic and blastic sub-volumes were quantitatively characterised using an automated technique. Strong correlation with volumes defined by an expert observer were found.

An automated, histogram-based method for characterizing spinal metastases shows potential for rapid and simple to use quantitative CT assessment.

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Caldwell, C, Whyne, C, Ebrahimi, H, Wright, T, Szilagyi, G, Zaheer, S, Bitter, I, Automated Technique for Characterization of Metastatic Spine Disease.  Radiological Society of North America 2014 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, - ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2014/14018501.html