Development of a lung perfusion automated quantitative model based on dual-energy CT pulmonary angiography in patients with chronic pulmonary thromboembolism

Abstract Objective To develop PerAIDE, an AI-driven system for automated analysis of pulmonary perfusion blood volume (PBV) using dual-energy computed tomography pulmonary angiography (DE-CTPA) in patients with chronic pulmonary thromboembolism (CPE). Materials and methods In this prospective observ...

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Main Authors: Linfeng Xi, Jianping Wang, Anqi Liu, Yifei Ni, Jie Du, Qiang Huang, Yishan Li, Jing Wen, Hongyi Wang, Shuai Zhang, Yunxia Zhang, Zhu Zhang, Dingyi Wang, Wanmu Xie, Qian Gao, Yong Cheng, Zhenguo Zhai, Min Liu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2025-08-01
Series:Insights into Imaging
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s13244-025-02067-6
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Summary:Abstract Objective To develop PerAIDE, an AI-driven system for automated analysis of pulmonary perfusion blood volume (PBV) using dual-energy computed tomography pulmonary angiography (DE-CTPA) in patients with chronic pulmonary thromboembolism (CPE). Materials and methods In this prospective observational study, 32 patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary disease (CTEPD) and 151 patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) were enrolled between January 2022 and July 2024. PerAIDE was developed to automatically quantify three distinct perfusion patterns—normal, reduced, and defective—on DE-CTPA images. Two radiologists independently assessed PBV scores. Follow-up imaging was conducted 3 months after balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA). Results PerAIDE demonstrated high agreement with the radiologists (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.778) and reduced analysis time significantly (31 ± 3 s vs. 15 ± 4 min, p < 0.001). CTEPH patients had greater perfusion defects than CTEPD (0.35 vs. 0.29, p < 0.001), while reduced perfusion was more prevalent in CTEPD (0.36 vs. 0.30, p < 0.001). Perfusion defects correlated positively with pulmonary vascular resistance (ρ = 0.534) and mean pulmonary artery pressure (ρ = 0.482), and negatively with oxygenation index (ρ = –0.441). PerAIDE effectively differentiated CTEPH from CTEPD (AUC = 0.809, 95% CI: 0.745–0.863). At the 3-month post-BPA, a significant reduction in perfusion defects was observed (0.36 vs. 0.33, p < 0.01). Conclusion CTEPD and CTEPH exhibit distinct perfusion phenotypes on DE-CTPA. PerAIDE reliably quantifies perfusion abnormalities and correlates strongly with clinical and hemodynamic markers of CPE severity. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT06526468. Registered 28 August 2024- Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06526468?cond=NCT06526468&rank=1 . Critical relevance statement PerAIDE is a dual-energy computed tomography pulmonary angiography (DE-CTPA) AI-driven system that rapidly and accurately assesses perfusion blood volume in patients with chronic pulmonary thromboembolism, effectively distinguishing between CTEPD and CTEPH phenotypes and correlating with disease severity and therapeutic response. Key Points Right heart catheterization for definitive diagnosis of chronic pulmonary thromboembolism (CPE) is invasive. PerAIDE-based perfusion defects correlated with disease severity to aid CPE-treatment assessment. CTEPH demonstrates severe perfusion defects, while CTEPD displays predominantly reduced perfusion. PerAIDE employs a U-Net-based adaptive threshold method, which achieves alignment with and faster processing relative to manual evaluation. Graphical Abstract
ISSN:1869-4101