Lung vessel connectivity map as anatomical prior knowledge for deep learning-based lung lobe segmentation.

Purpose: Our study investigates the potential benefits of incorporating prior anatomical knowledge into a deep learning (DL) method designed for the automated segmentation of lung lobes in chest CT scans.

Approach: We introduce an automated DL-based approach that leverages anatomical information from the lung's vascular system to guide and enhance the segmentation process. This involves utilizing a lung vessel connectivity (LVC) map, which encodes relevant lung vessel anatomical data. Our study explores the performance of three different neural network architectures within the nnU-Net framework: a standalone U-Net, a multitasking U-Net, and a cascade U-Net.

Results: Experimental findings suggest that the inclusion of LVC information in the DL model can lead to improved segmentation accuracy, particularly, in the challenging boundary regions of expiration chest CT volumes. Furthermore, our study demonstrates the potential for LVC to enhance the model's generalization capabilities. Finally, the method's robustness is evaluated through the segmentation of lung lobes in 10 cases of COVID-19, demonstrating its applicability in the presence of pulmonary diseases.

Conclusions: Incorporating prior anatomical information, such as LVC, into the DL model shows promise for enhancing segmentation performance, particularly in the boundary regions. However, the extent of this improvement has limitations, prompting further exploration of its practical applicability.