News
15 presentations from CVIT and CIPG at the AAPM annual meeting
A new important scientific event is approaching soon involving several Center for Virtual Imaging Trials members. Together with the Clinical Imaging Physics Group (CIPG) and RAILabs colleagues, CVIT researchers are heading to Houston, TX for the 2023 American Association of Physicist in Medicine (AAPM) annual meeting. Between July 23-27, thousands of medical physicists and healthcare professionals from around the World will gather to discuss the latest advancement in the field with CVIT, CIPG, and RAILabs presenting a total of 15 scientific studies. The theme of the conference “The Art of Science, the Science of Care” has been proposed by 2023 AAPM President and CVIT Director Dr. Ehsan Samei. Throughout the annual meeting, he will lead several Presidential events together with prominent artists and thought leaders. In his letter to the medical physics community, Dr. Samei highlighted how the theme of the conference: “reminds us of the privilege of being a medical physicist, a vocation rooted in ingenuity, imagination, and creativity (the art, if you will), which is then enacted within a field that is one of the highest embodiments of human intelligence (physics), and all that, then translated into a practice with direct benefit to human health.” The following is a list of the CVIT presentations. Stay tuned to our social media for more details and to follow CVIT members during their presentations. Nicole Lafata: Clinical Evaluation of AEC Target Exposure Accuracy in Radiography: A Generalized Methodology across Diverse Systems. July 23rd, 2:14pm, Room 371 (GRBCC). Francesco Ria: Comparative Risk Assessment of Clinical and Radiation Risk across a Cohort of Patient and Individualized Risk Optimization. July 23rd, 3:00pm, Exhibit Hall Forum 8 (Level 1, GRBCC). Francesco Ria: Accuracy of Noise Magnitude Measurements from Patient CT Images: A Virtual Imaging Study. July 23rd, 3:30pm, Exhibit Hall Forum 8 (Level 1, GRBCC). Madhura Khandekar: Training an Algorithm to Segment Motion Artifacts in CT Using Virtual Imaging Data. July 23rd, 3:30pm, Exhibit Hall Forum 8 (Level 1, GRBCC). Ehsan Samei: President’s Symposium: The Art of Science, the Science of Care. July 24th, 10:15am, Assembly BC (Level 3, GRBCC). Steven T. Bache: What Is the Optimum kV for Photon Counting CT Imaging of Adults and Children? July 24th, 1:15pm, Exhibit Hall Forum 8 (Level 1, GRBCC). Ehsan Samei: President Symposium Fireside Chat. July 24th, 3:15pm, Room 340 (GRBCC). Amar Kavuri: A Dockerized CT Simulator with a User-Friendly Graphical User Interface: Development and Initial Demonstration. July 25th, 9:30am, Exhibit Hall Forum 8 (Level 1, GRBCC). Nicholas D. Felice: Photon-Counting CT Compared to Energy-Integrating CT for Detection of Liver Lesions. July 25th, 2:15pm, Room 361 (GRBCC). Mridul Bhattarai: Edge-on Irradiated Silicon-Based Photon-Counting CT Vs. Energy-Integrating CT for Bronchitis Quantification: A Virtual Imaging Trial Study. July 25th, 2:25pm, Room 361 (Level 3, GRBCC). Raj Kumar Panta: Liver Fat Quantification with an Edge-on-Irradiated Silicon Photon-Counting CT in a Virtual Imaging Trial. July 25th, 2:35pm, Room 361 (Level 3, GRBCC). Ehsan Samei: Medical Physics Meets Visual Arts. July 25th, 4:00pm, Innovation Room 1 (Level 1, GRBCC). Hananiel Setiawan: Development and Testing of a Clinical Tool to Predict and Optimize Liver Contrast-Enhanced CT Imaging. July 26th, 9:30am, Exhibit Hall – Forum 8 (Level 1, GRBCC). Ehsan Samei: Presidential Forum: Medical Physics NOW. July 26th, 4:30pm, Room 372 (GRBCC). Isabel S. Montero: Sensitivity of Trial Results on the Simulation Parameters in Virtual CT Imaging Trials. July 27th, 7:50am, Room 361 (GRBCC).
CVIT is a partner of the new Research Triangle Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation
Great news for Duke University and CVIT as they become partners of the new Research Triangle Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (Triangle CERSI), officially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill joined together to create the new Center that will receive up to $50 million from FDA in the next five years. The Center also includes collaborations with North Carolina State University and North Carolina Central University. Triangle CERSI becomes the fifth Center in the U.S. operating under the FDA CERSI Program led by the Office of Regulatory Science and Innovation. The goal of the program is to promote innovation in regulatory science to support FDA’s regulatory science needs. The Center for Virtual Imaging Trials will contribute to the new Triangle CERSI activities offering expertise and technologies for conducting human trials of imaging methods by applying virtual imaging techniques. Such tools developed by CVIT scientists, enable computational simulation comparisons with known ground truth and represent a unique resource in the current regulatory framework. In this scenario, “the Triangle CERSI is a significant opportunity for our scholarly communities to curate and direct our intelligence towards addressing an important societal need for proficient and efficient regulatory approval and oversight”, said Dr. Ehsan Samei, one of the three principal investigators from Duke University and CVIT Director. The Center for Virtual Imaging Trials is proud to be part of the new Triangle CERSI.
Virtual Imaging Trials in Medicine – International Summit
Hosted at Duke University, this summit will gather leading experts, researchers, and practitioners in medical imaging and therapy for in silico virtual trials and digital twins in medicine.
CVIT is heading to ATS 2023 International Conference in Washington, DC
Two Center for Virtual Imaging Trials researchers will present their scientific works at the 2023 International Conference of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) that will be held in Washington, DC 19-24 May. Amar Kavuri and Saman Sotoudeh-Paima will present their studies concerning the application of virtual imaging techniques for emphysema quantification and score in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Every year, the ATS International Conference registers the participation of nearly 14,000 pulmonary, critical care, and sleep professionals from around the word. The application to pulmonary diseases is one of the many potential translational opportunities that virtual imaging techniques offer in the medical field. In particular, Saman Sotoudeh-Paima study exploits virtual imaging datasets to inform artificial intelligence algorithms assessing emphysema score for COPD quantifications in CT. Amar Kavuri study won the ATS 2023 abstract scholarship and applies virtual imaging tools to assess the effects of intra-patient end-inspiration variability in emphysema quantification. Following are the details of the presentations. A. Kavuri, M. Nejad, S. Sotoudeh-Paima, H. P. McAdams, D. A. Lynch, P. W. Segars, E.Samei, E. Abadi; Effects of Intra-patient End-inspiration Variability in Emphysema Quantification: A Virtual Imaging Study. American Thoracic Society, 2023. https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1164/ajrccm-conference.2023.207.1_MeetingAbstracts.A4022 The purpose of this study was to quantify the effects of lung respiration levels on emphysema quantification using a validated virtual imaging platform and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the current adjustment methods. Our results show 15% increased by 46 HU (95% CI:[36.4,56]) per 1L respiration volume deviation and LAA-950 reduced by 1.27% /1L (95% CI:[0.067,2.5] ) deviation. The physiologic based adjustment model reduced this variability more compared to the statistical one due to its basis on the individual patient and not population averages. This analysis helps in improving the lung volume correction methods and in reducing this variability for accurate estimation of the quantitative metrics. Sotoudeh-Paima, S., Nejad, M. G., Segars, W. P., O’Sullivan-Murphy, B., Macintyre, N. R., Lynch, D. A., Samei E., Abadi, E. Emphysema Score in CT for COPD Quantifications Using Artificial Intelligence Informed by Virtual Imaging Datasets. American Thoracic Society, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1164/ajrccm-conference.2023.207.1_MeetingAbstracts.A4021 Computed tomography (CT) is an in vivo diagnostic method that assesses the severity and extent of emphysema in the lungs. LAA-950 is a conventional imaging biomarker to quantify emphysema. While this biomarker has shown promising values in assessing disease severity, it is highly prone to variability in imaging protocols and scanner makes and models. The purpose of this work was to investigate a deep learning (DL)-based quantification approach that can characterize emphysema accurately while being robust to scanner variability. This approach would enable a more reliable comparison of emphysema quantifications in multi-center and longitudinal studies.
CVIT member Saman Sotoudeh-Paima received finalist for the Robert F. Wagner award at SPIE Medical Imaging conference
Last week, CVIT member Saman Sotoudeh-Paima received the Finalist for the Robert F. Wagner all-conference best student paper award at SPIE Medical Imaging conference held in San Diego, California. The SPIE medical imaging chapter is focused on the latest advances in image processing, physics, computer-aided diagnosis, perception, image guided procedures, biomedical applications, ultrasound, informatics, radiology and digital computational pathology. Saman, togethers with co-authors Dr. Ehsan Abadi and Dr. Ehsan Samei, presented a study about a new CT imaging harmonizer providing robust pulmonary emphysema quantifications and enabling objective disease characterizations in large-scale, multi-center, and longitudinal studies. In particular, pulmonary emphysema is a form of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and a chronic lung condition that results in a breakdown of alveoli walls. Quantitative Computed Tomography is increasingly used to assess the presence or progression of emphysema. However, CT quantifications are affected by the acquisition protocols and scanner makes and models. This variability is a major concern for cross-sectional and longitudinal disease characterizations with largescale, multi-institutional datasets. Therefore, CT images need to be harmonized to reflect the patient condition and not the attributes of the imaging systems. The proposed new framework, named CT-HARMONICA, was developed using a virtual imaging trial (VIT) platform at the Center for Virtual Imaging Trials. CT-HARMONICA transforms CT images to a reference quality index (iso resolution and noise conditions) enabling robust emphysema quantifications across varied CT conditions. The developed harmonizer was applied to clinical data from the COPDGene dataset to demonstrate its clinical utility. The established imaging biomarkers of LAA-950 and Perc15 were selected for emphysema quantifications. Results demonstrated that the harmonizer improved the quantification performance by reducing the bias in LAA-950 from 7.03 (CI: [6.38, 7.68]) to 0.14 (CI: [0.08, 0.20]) after matching for kernel and from 2.48 (CI: [2.21, 2.76]) to −0.34 (CI: [−0.48, −0.20]) after matching for noise settings on the COPDGene dataset. Saman is a second year Ph.D. student at the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University. Currently, he is a Research Assistant at Carl E. Ravin Advanced Imaging Laboratories (RAI Labs) and the Center of Virtual Imaging Trials (CVIT). His research is primarily focused on improving the accuracy and precision of CT quantification for COPD patients, mainly using image processing- and deep learning-based techniques.
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CVIT presentations at SPIE Medical Imaging 2023 in San Diego
Center for Virtual Imaging Trials members will present 5 abstracts at the SPIE Medical Imaging 2023 conference that will be held in San Diego (California) 19-23 February. In particular, the presented studies will cover different topics including photon counting CT, the application of virtual imaging trials for airway quantifications in CT, automatic quality control in CT volumes segmentation, and CT harmonization techniques. Following, is the list of the CVIT presentations: Cindy McCabe: A systematic assessment of photon-counting CT for bone mineral density and microarchitecture quantifications. February 20th, 10:30am, Town & Country A room. Fong Chi Ho: Development and Application of a Virtual Imaging Trial framework for Airway Quantifications via CT. February 22nd, 5:00pm, Town & Country A room. Lavsen Dahal: Automatic quality control in computed tomography volumes segmentation using a small set of XCAT as reference images. February 22nd, 06:00pm, Pacific A room. Saman Sotoudeh Paima: CT-HARMONICA: Physics-based CT Harmonization for Reliable Lung Density Quantification. February 23rd, 03:30pm, Town & Country C room. Mojtaba Zarei: Harmonizing CT Images via Physics-based Deep Neural Networks. February 23rd, 04:20pm, Town & Country A room. The SPIE medical imaging chapter (https://spie.org/conferences-and-exhibitions/medical-imaging) is focused on the latest advances in image processing, physics, computer-aided diagnosis, perception, image guided procedures, biomedical applications, ultrasound, informatics, radiology and digital computational pathology. Stay tuned to our social media for more details and to follow CVIT members during their presentations.
An in-depth tutorial for Virtual Clinical Trials at SPIE Medical Imaging conference
SPIE Medical Imaging Conference 2023 is offering a special course in Virtual Clinical Trials (VCTs), Sunday 19th February 8.30am -12.30pm, at the same venue of the conference, in San Diego (California). Course instructors are CVIT Faculty Dr. Ehsan Samei and Dr. Ehsan Abadi, and Dr. Andrew Maidment from Penn Medicine. The course will provide an essential introduction to virtual clinical trials, focused primarily on imaging. In particular, the covered topics include models of human anatomy and physiology, models of imaging processes primarily CT and breast imaging, models of interpretation processes, standardization of the VCT pipeline, and regulatory prospects of VCT. The course is of particular interest for professionals from academia, industry and government, interested in adopting or gaining knowledge of Virtual Clinical Trials methods. The participants will have the opportunity, also through examples, to learn about the role and place of VCT in imaging and in medicine, the main components and methods of a virtual trial, the constituent software components and the underlying statistical consideration for conducting VCTs. To learn more and to register click here.
CVIT contribution at RSNA 2022 Annual meeting
The Center for Virtual Imaging Trials is presenting 8 scientific contributions at RSNA 2022 annual meeting. With over 50,000 participants every year, the Radiology Society of North America annual meeting is the world’s largest medical imaging conference. It is being held in Chicago (IL) November 27 – December 1st, 2022. CVIT members are contributing with 3 posters, 4 talks, and a lecture covering several topics including photon counting CT, radiomics, and risk assessment in radiology. CVIT Director Dr. Ehsan Samei, will also deliver a lecture on virtual clinical trials representing a new paradigm of clinical evaluation and quantification in medicine. Stay tuned to our social media for more details and to follow CVIT members during their presentations.
Phantoms in Space
Two phantoms the Center helped with, Helga and Zohar, launched on NASA’s Artemis I rocket. The phantoms took a trip around the moon measuring radiation exposure as they traveled through space. The ultimate goal of the project is to explore the possibility of sending humans to Mars. Learn More
