Multipath cycleGAN for harmonization of paired and unpaired low-dose lung computed tomography reconstruction kernels

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Main Authors: Krishnan, Aravind R., Li, Thomas Z., Remedios, Lucas W., Kim, Michael E., Gao, Chenyu, Rudravaram, Gaurav, McMaster, Elyssa M., Saunders, Adam M., Bao, Shunxing, Xu, Kaiwen, Zuo, Lianrui, Sandler, Kim L., Maldonado, Fabien, Huo, Yuankai, Landman, Bennett A.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Krishnan, Aravind R.
Li, Thomas Z.
Remedios, Lucas W.
Kim, Michael E.
Gao, Chenyu
Rudravaram, Gaurav
McMaster, Elyssa M.
Saunders, Adam M.
Bao, Shunxing
Xu, Kaiwen
Zuo, Lianrui
Sandler, Kim L.
Maldonado, Fabien
Huo, Yuankai
Landman, Bennett A.
author_facet Krishnan, Aravind R.
Li, Thomas Z.
Remedios, Lucas W.
Kim, Michael E.
Gao, Chenyu
Rudravaram, Gaurav
McMaster, Elyssa M.
Saunders, Adam M.
Bao, Shunxing
Xu, Kaiwen
Zuo, Lianrui
Sandler, Kim L.
Maldonado, Fabien
Huo, Yuankai
Landman, Bennett A.
contents Reconstruction kernels in computed tomography (CT) affect spatial resolution and noise characteristics, introducing systematic variability in quantitative imaging measurements such as emphysema quantification. Choosing an appropriate kernel is therefore essential for consistent quantitative analysis. We propose a multipath cycleGAN model for CT kernel harmonization, trained on a mixture of paired and unpaired data from a low-dose lung cancer screening cohort. The model features domain-specific encoders and decoders with a shared latent space and uses discriminators tailored for each domain.We train the model on 42 kernel combinations using 100 scans each from seven representative kernels in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) dataset. To evaluate performance, 240 scans from each kernel are harmonized to a reference soft kernel, and emphysema is quantified before and after harmonization. A general linear model assesses the impact of age, sex, smoking status, and kernel on emphysema. We also evaluate harmonization from soft kernels to a reference hard kernel. To assess anatomical consistency, we compare segmentations of lung vessels, muscle, and subcutaneous adipose tissue generated by TotalSegmentator between harmonized and original images. Our model is benchmarked against traditional and switchable cycleGANs. For paired kernels, our approach reduces bias in emphysema scores, as seen in Bland-Altman plots (p<0.05). For unpaired kernels, harmonization eliminates confounding differences in emphysema (p>0.05). High Dice scores confirm preservation of muscle and fat anatomy, while lung vessel overlap remains reasonable. Overall, our shared latent space multipath cycleGAN enables robust harmonization across paired and unpaired CT kernels, improving emphysema quantification and preserving anatomical fidelity.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_22568
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Multipath cycleGAN for harmonization of paired and unpaired low-dose lung computed tomography reconstruction kernels
Krishnan, Aravind R.
Li, Thomas Z.
Remedios, Lucas W.
Kim, Michael E.
Gao, Chenyu
Rudravaram, Gaurav
McMaster, Elyssa M.
Saunders, Adam M.
Bao, Shunxing
Xu, Kaiwen
Zuo, Lianrui
Sandler, Kim L.
Maldonado, Fabien
Huo, Yuankai
Landman, Bennett A.
Image and Video Processing
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Reconstruction kernels in computed tomography (CT) affect spatial resolution and noise characteristics, introducing systematic variability in quantitative imaging measurements such as emphysema quantification. Choosing an appropriate kernel is therefore essential for consistent quantitative analysis. We propose a multipath cycleGAN model for CT kernel harmonization, trained on a mixture of paired and unpaired data from a low-dose lung cancer screening cohort. The model features domain-specific encoders and decoders with a shared latent space and uses discriminators tailored for each domain.We train the model on 42 kernel combinations using 100 scans each from seven representative kernels in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) dataset. To evaluate performance, 240 scans from each kernel are harmonized to a reference soft kernel, and emphysema is quantified before and after harmonization. A general linear model assesses the impact of age, sex, smoking status, and kernel on emphysema. We also evaluate harmonization from soft kernels to a reference hard kernel. To assess anatomical consistency, we compare segmentations of lung vessels, muscle, and subcutaneous adipose tissue generated by TotalSegmentator between harmonized and original images. Our model is benchmarked against traditional and switchable cycleGANs. For paired kernels, our approach reduces bias in emphysema scores, as seen in Bland-Altman plots (p<0.05). For unpaired kernels, harmonization eliminates confounding differences in emphysema (p>0.05). High Dice scores confirm preservation of muscle and fat anatomy, while lung vessel overlap remains reasonable. Overall, our shared latent space multipath cycleGAN enables robust harmonization across paired and unpaired CT kernels, improving emphysema quantification and preserving anatomical fidelity.
title Multipath cycleGAN for harmonization of paired and unpaired low-dose lung computed tomography reconstruction kernels
topic Image and Video Processing
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.22568