

Background: To assess the effectiveness of inhalation therapy, it is important to evaluate the lungs' structure; thus, visualization of the entire lungs at the level of the alveoli is necessary. To achieve this goal, the applied visualization technique must satisfy the following two conditions simultaneously: (1) it has to obtain images of the entire lungs, since one part of the lungs is influenced by the other parts, and (2) the images have to capture the detailed structure of the alveolus/acinus in which gas exchange occurs. However, current visualization techniques do not fulfill these two conditions simultaneously. Segmentation is a process in which each pixel of the obtained high-resolution images is simplified (i.e., the representation of an image is changed by categorizing and modifying each pixel) so that we can perform three-dimensional volume rendering. One of the bottlenecks of current approaches is that the accuracy of the segmentation of each image has to be evaluated on the outcome of the process (mainly by an expert). It is a formidable task to evaluate the astronomically large numbers of images that would be required to resolve the entire lungs in high resolution. Methods: To overcome this challenge, we propose a new approach based on machine learning (ML) techniques for the validation step. Results: We demonstrate the accuracy of the segmentation process itself by comparison with previously validated images. In this ML approach, to achieve a reasonable accuracy, millions/billions of parameters used for segmentation have to be optimized. This computationally demanding new approach is achievable only due to recent dramatic increases in computation power. Conclusion: The objective of this article is to explain the advantages of ML over the classical approach for acinar imaging. © Branko Arsic, et al., 2023. Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2023.
| EMTREE medical terms: | Articleartificial intelligencegas exchangeimage qualityimage reconstructioninhalational drug administrationlung alveolusmachine learningsensitivity and specificitysupport vector machinethree-dimensional imagingwhite matterx-ray tomographydiagnostic imagingimage processinglungmachine learningproceduressynchrotronx-ray computed tomography |
|---|---|
| MeSH: | Administration, InhalationImage Processing, Computer-AssistedLungMachine LearningSynchrotronsTomography, X-Ray Computed |
| Funding sponsor | Funding number | Acronym |
|---|---|---|
| European Commission See opportunities by EC | EC | |
| 451-03-68/2022-14/200107,200107 | ||
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme See opportunities by H2020 | 952603 | H2020 |
This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia through Contracts No. 451-03-68/ 2022-14/200107 and SGABU No. 952603 of the European Union.
Filipovic, N.; Department for Applied Mechanics, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kragujevac, Sestre Janjica 6, Kragujevac, Serbia;
Tsuda, A.; Tsuda Lung Research, 28 Keyes House Road, Shrewsbury, MA, United States;
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