Accuracy of automatic airway morphometry in computed tomography-correlation of radiological-pathological findings.

Abstract Objectives Airway morphology shows characteristic changes in different pathologies. This study assesses the accuracy of a current automatic airway assessment technique by correlating CT images of porcine airways to histological slices of the same localization. Materials and methods Four isolated and ventilated porcine lungs were frozen in a liquid nitrogen bath and examined with a CT scanner (MDCT). This technique both preserved normal radiomorphological appearance and made it possible to slice the specimens for histological examination for subsequent correlation. The parameters wall thickness (WT), wall percentage (WP), and total diameter (TD) were assessed by computer-aided measu…