Assessment of the influence of the liver shape on the accuracy of volume measurement and diagnosis of hepatomegaly using computed tomography

The aim of the study is to determine the influence of liver shapes on the accuracy of estimating the organ volume and assessment of hepatomegaly on CT. To develop approaches to improve the accuracy of calculations for various forms of liver.
Material and methods. The work is based on the analysis of the results of 603 abdominal CT examinations available in the radiological information systems of the city of Moscow. Six dimensions of the liver were measured: transverse, vertical and anteroposterior dimensions of the right and left lobes. Using automatic segmentation, performed in special software systems IntelliSpase Portal (Philips) and Synapse 3D (Fuji), the maximum close to the true liver volume was calculated. This made it possible to carry out a mathematical analysis to obtain various formulas for calculating the liver volume, depending on its shape. A comparative assessment of the sensitivity and specificity of the developed formulas and the standard one, which does not take into account the shape of the liver, was carried out in relation to the diagnosis of hepatomegaly.
Results. During the study, the four most common types of liver forms were identified, for each of which, based on mathematical approaches, formulas for calculating the organ volume were developed. Comparative analysis of these formulas and the previously developed by us standard one showed that the root-mean-square error decreases using the formula for a certain type of liver shape. However, the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnosis of hepatomegaly in the differential approach do not change compared with the standard formula.
Conclusion. The existing difference in the forms of the patients’ liver does not significantly affect the approaches to determine the organ volume and establishing the fact of hepatomegaly during CT. Therefore, the standard formula for determining liver can be used in clinical practice: V = (HRL+TRL)³/21, (V – volume, HRL – high of right lobe, TRL – thickness of right lobe).

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