Computer simulations of lung morphologies within planar gamma camera images

A mathematical model and computer code have been developed to unambiguously interpret planar gamma camera images. Specifically, the algorithm permits airway composition of the central, intermediate and peripheral partitions of scans to be determined quantitatively. The algorithm unambigously identifies the spatial coordinates of each of the millions of airways within the adult human lung, and assigns every individual airway to a precise location within the gamma camera image format prescribed by the clinician. This is done on a patient-by-patient basis. The algorithm has evolved from clinical applications of the previous work of Martonen et al. [1]. The objective of the current work was to advance the original protocol and derive an algorithm that was: (1) from a medical perspective, more physiologically realistic; and (2) from a technical perspective, easier to apply in the medical arena. Regarding (1), the major elements of the algorithm are that the outer boundary of the lung is formulated directly from lung perfusion imaging data and that the lung is divided into distinct left and right components. Regarding (2), the algorithm has been written for use with common workstations. It is our hope that the improvements will facilitate applications of the new model-code into aerosol therapy regimens.