Pulmonary nodules: automated detection on CT images with morphologic matching algorithm--preliminary results.

Institutional review board approval was obtained. Informed patient consent was not required for this retrospective study, which involved review of previously obtained image data. Patient confidentiality was protected; the study was compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. An automated pulmonary nodule detection program that takes advantage of three-dimensional volumetric data was developed and tested with multi-detector row computed tomographic (CT) images from 20 patients (13 men, seven women; age range, 40-75 years) with pulmonary nodules. A total of 164 nodules 3 mm in diameter and larger were detected by two radiologists in consensus and were used as a reference standard to evaluate the computer-aided detection (CAD) program. The CAD algorithm was structured to process nodules that were categorized into three types: isolated, juxtapleural, and juxtavascular. Overall sensitivity for nodule detection with the CAD program was 95.1% (156 of 164 nodules). The sensitivity according to nodule size was 91.2% (52 of 57 nodules) for nodules 3 mm to less than 5 mm and 97.2% (104 of 107 nodules) for nodules 5 mm and larger. The number of false-positive detections per patient was 6.9 for false nodule structures 3 mm and larger and 4.0 for false nodule structures 5 mm and larger.