Nonspecific interstitial pneumonia versus usual interstitial pneumonia: Differences in the density histogram of high-resolution CT

Kyung Hyun Do, Jin Seong Lee, Thomas V. Colby, Masanori Kitaichi, Dong Soon Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: To assess the capability of the density histogram of high-resolution CT (HRCT) in differentiating nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) from usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) without definite honeycombing. Methods: Twenty-eight NSIP and 32 UIP patients without definite honeycombing on CT were included in this study. We evaluated a CT image at the level of 1 cm above the diaphragm. The pixels of the lung parenchyma were classified into 4 ranges. The fractions of each range of corresponding density were calculated. The skewness (the degree of asymmetry of a distribution) and kurtosis (how sharply peaked a histogram is) were obtained from the density histogram. The mean value and the mode value of the lung attenuation were also measured. Results: The fraction of the range of ground-glass opacity and reticular opacity was greater in NSIP patients (32%, 12%) than in UIP patients (23%, 8%) (P < 0.001). UIP had a larger fraction of the range of normal lung. The density histogram was less skewed (P = 0.01) and had a wider peak (P = 0.02) in NSIP (skewness = 1.2879 ± 0.5672, kurtosis = 1.2115 ± 1.9470) than in UIP (skewness = 1.6426 ± 0.4664, kurtosis = 2.3880 ± 1.8183). Conclusion: The density histogram reflected the differences in the CT features between NSIP and UIP. Therefore, a density histogram may be helpful for differentiating NSIP from UIP without definite honeycombing.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)544-548
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of computer assisted tomography
Volume29
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2005

Keywords

  • High-resolution computed tomography
  • Image quality computed tomography
  • Lung density
  • Lung fibrosis
  • Nonspecific interstitial pneumonia
  • Usual interstitial pneumonia

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging

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