Liver, spleen and tumor volume measured by personal computer.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Computed tomography (CT) scans are common examinations for patients with chronic liver diseases. To quantitate the organ or tumor volume from the scans and to accomplish the task in an efficient way with the most economic equipment, we developed a system based on a personal computer.

METHODOLOGY: We used color-markers and transparency to sketch the edges of liver, hepatoma, and spleen. Each organ or tumor of interest is marked out by fine-point markers on pieces of transparency. The sketch was scanned into a digitized image format on a personal computer (Pentium 133). The calculation involves edge detection, three-dimensional reconstruction, and voxel counting. By using summation-of-the-area and trapezoid approximation technique, the voxels of each structure are counted. In this study, we illustrate the potential application in the management of a hepatic cancer patient.

RESULTS: After digitalization, the data size of CT images is about 1 to 1.5 megabytes. It takes less than 5 min to complete volume calculation.

CONCLUSIONS: By this method, tumor load before and after chemotherapy can be estimated easily and accurately. This would be helpful in clinical practice.