Morphological Lesion Detection in CT Colonography

描述（由申请人提供）：本项目的具体目标是开发一套新的方法，以促进CT结肠成像用于结直肠癌筛查。结直肠癌是癌症相关死亡的第二大原因，通过早期识别和切除前驱病变可以在很大程度上预防。不幸的是，结肠直肠癌筛查的依从性仍然很差。CT结肠造影是一种快速、无创、安全的检查，有可能显著提高筛查依从性。然而，为了使CT结肠成像成为一种主要的筛查方式，必须克服目前的一些限制。该项目试图通过开发以下内容来克服这些局限性：用于自动息肉检测以帮助放射科医师准确评估来自具有低疾病流行率的筛查人群的大量研究的算法，用于数字去除标记粪便以允许在不需要完全排空的情况下进行测试的方法，增强的工作流程工具和改进的可视化方法，以允许快速准确地审查每次检查产生的大量数据，并提供更详细的病变量化以帮助放射科医师识别具有最大恶性潜能的特定病变。 第二阶段的工作将包括通过与放射科医生报告和光学内窥镜检查结果进行比较来评估我们的方法。我们还将与领先的放射科医生和胃肠病学家合作，以优化我们工作的临床效用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The specific aim of this project is development of a suite of novel methods to facilitate the use of CT colonography for colorectal cancer screening. Colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer-related death, can be largely prevented by early identification and removal of precursor lesions. Unfortunately, compliance with colorectal cancer screening remains poor. CT colonography is a fast, non-invasive, and safe test that has the potential to significantly increase screening compliance. However, in order for CT colonography to become a primary screening modality, several current limitations must be overcome. This project attempts to overcome those limitations by developing: algorithms for automated polyp detection to assist radiologists in accurately evaluating large numbers of studies from a screening population with low disease prevalence, methods for digital removal of tagged stool to permit testing to be performed without the need for complete evacuation, enhanced workflow tools and improved visualization methods to permit fast and accurate review of the large volumes of data produced by each examination, and provide more detailed quantification of lesions to assist radiologists in identifying specific lesions with the greatest malignant potential. The Phase II effort will include evaluation of our methods by comparison to radiologist reports and the results of optical endoscopic examinations. We will also work with leading radiologists and a gasteroenterologist to optimize the clinical utility of our work.