Comparison of manual and automated size measurements of lung metastases on MDCT images: Potential influence on therapeutic decisions

PurposeThe goal of this study was to evaluate the influence of automated measurement of diameter, area, and volume from chest CT scans on therapeutic decisions of lung nodules as compared to manual 2-D measurements.Patients and methodThe retrospective study involved 25 patients with 75 lung metastases. Contrast enhanced CT scans (16 row) of the lung were performed three times during chemotherapy with a mean time interval of 67.9 days between scans. In each patient, three metastases were evaluated (n = 225). Automatic measurements were compared to manual assessment for the following parameters: diameter, area, and density. The influence on the therapeutic decisions was evaluated using the RECIST criteria.ResultsThe maximum diameter measured by the automatic application was on an average 27% (S.D. 39; CI: 0.22–0.32; p < 0.0001) higher than the maximum diameter with manual assessment, and the differences depended on metastases size. Based on diameter calculation, manual and automated assessment disagreed in up to 32% of therapeutic decisions. Volumetric assessment tended towards more changes in therapy as compared to diameter calculation. The calculation of mean transversal area of metastases was 36% (S.D. 0.305; CI: −0.40 to −0.32; p < 0.0001) less with automated measurement. Therapeutic strategy would be changed in up to 25.7% of nodules using automated area calculation. Automated assessment of nodules’ area and volume could influence the therapeutic decisions in up to 51.4% of all nodules. Density of the nodules was not validated to determine the influence on therapeutic decisions.ConclusionThere is a discrepancy between the manual and automated size measurement of lung metastases which could be significant.