Purpose: The predicted postoperative forced exspiratory volume in one second (FEV (1)) is an important functional factor for predicting the operability of patients with bronchial carcinoma. A software tool that uses a preoperative chest MSCT and pulmonary function test (PFT) for largely automated prediction of the FEV (1) was evaluated.
Materials and methods: Fifteen patients with surgically treated lung cancer were examined with a preoperative chest MSCT (1.25 mm slice thickness, 0.8 mm reconstruction increment) and PFT before and after surgery. CT scans were analyzed by the prototype software MeVisPulmo (MeVis gGmbH, Bremen) that predicted the postoperative FEV (1) as a percentage of the preoperative values measured by PFT. The automated segmentation and volumetry of lung lobes were performed either without or with minimal user interaction. Patients underwent lobectomy in twelve cases (6 upper lobes, 1 middle lobe, 5 lower lobes) and pneumectomy in three cases. The predicted FEV (1) values were compared to the observed postoperative values as a standard of reference. The additional functional parameters "total lung capacity" (TLC) and "forced vital capacity" (FVC) were compared to the FEV (1) results.
Results: Automated calculation of predicted postoperative lung function was successful in all cases. Due to an implausible PFT, two of the 15 patients were excluded from the collective. A mean postoperative FEV (1) value of 75 % (SD +/- 12 %) of the preoperative FEV (1) was calculated and 74 % (SD +/- 12 %) was actually measured. The deviations of the predicted value from the measured postoperative FEV (1) ranged between - 289 ml (-12 % of the measured postoperative FEV (1)) and + 294 ml (+ 15 % of the postoperative FEV (1)). The mean deviation (absolute value) was 137 +/- 77 ml/s. This corresponds to 7 +/- 3 % of the measured postoperative FEV (1). Bland-Altman-Statistics showed the 95 % "limits of agreement" for the predicted FEV (1) values to be between - 341 ml and + 301 ml, corresponding to - 17.5 % and + 15.8 of the measured postoperative FEV (1) value. Analysis of the TLC and FVC yielded similar results.
Conclusion: In the present pilot study the software-assisted prediction of the postoperative FEV (1) using a preoperative MSCT and pulmonary function test corresponded satisfactorily with the observed postoperative values. The introduced approach may make it possible to obtain additional information for the prediction of functional operability prior to performing lung cancer surgery.