Inspiratory Lung Expansion in Patients with Interstitial Lung Disease: CT Histogram Analyses

This study aimed to evaluate inspiratory lung expansion in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) using histogram analyses based on advanced image registration between inspiratory and expiratory CT scans. We included 16 female ILD patients and eight age- and sex-matched normal controls who underwent full-inspiratory and expiratory CT scans. The CT scans were sequentially aligned based on the surface, landmarks, and attenuation of the lung parenchyma. Histogram analyses were performed on the degree of lung expansion (DLE) of each pixel between the aligned images in x-, y-, z-axes, and 3-dimensionally (3D). The overall mean registration error was 1.9 mm between the CT scans. The DLE(3D) in ILD patients was smaller than in the controls (mean, 17.6 mm vs. 26.9 mm; p = 0.023), and less heterogeneous in terms of standard deviation, entropy, and uniformity (p < 0.05). These results were mainly due to similar results in the DLE(Z) of the lower lungs. A forced vital capacity tended to be weakly correlated with mean (r(2) = 0.210; p = 0.074), and histogram parameters (r(2) = 0.194–0.251; p = 0.048–0.100) of the DLE(3D) in the lower lung in ILD patients. Our findings indicate that reduced and less heterogeneous inspiratory lung expansion in ILD patients can be identified by using advanced accurate image registration.