Three-dimensional conditional generative adversarial network-based virtual thin-slice technique for the morphological evaluation of the spine

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 12176 - 8
• Main Authors: Nakamoto, Atsushi, Hori, Masatoshi, Onishi, Hiromitsu, Ota, Takashi, Fukui, Hideyuki, Ogawa, Kazuya, Masumoto, Jun, Kudo, Akira, Kitamura, Yoshiro, Kido, Shoji, Tomiyama, Noriyuki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 16.07.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 692/698/1671; 692/699/578; Abdomen; Algorithms; Aortic aneurysms; Artificial intelligence; Compression; Humanities and Social Sciences; Morphology; multidisciplinary; Patients; R&D; Radiology; Regulatory approval; Research & development; Scanners; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Software; Spine; University graduates; Vertebrae
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-16637-x

Virtual thin-slice (VTS) technique is a generative adversarial network-based algorithm that can generate virtual 1-mm-thick CT images from images of 3–10-mm thickness. We evaluated the performance of VTS technique for assessment of the spine. VTS was applied to 4-mm-thick CT images of 73 patients, and the visibility of intervertebral spaces was evaluated on the 4-mm-thick and VTS images. The heights of vertebrae measured on sagittal images reconstructed from the 4-mm-thick images and VTS images were compared with those measured on images reconstructed from 1-mm-thick images. Diagnostic performance for the detection of compression fractures was also compared. The intervertebral spaces were significantly more visible on the VTS images than on the 4-mm-thick images ( P  < 0.001). The absolute value of the measured difference in mean vertebral height between the VTS and 1-mm-thick images was smaller than that between the 4-mm-thick and 1-mm-thick images ( P  < 0.01–0.54). The diagnostic performance of the VTS images for detecting compression fracture was significantly lower than that of the 4-mm-thick images for one reader ( P  = 0.02). VTS technique enabled the identification of each vertebral body, and enabled accurate measurement of vertebral height. However, this technique is not suitable for diagnosing compression fractures.