Informatics in radiology (infoRAD): new tools for computer assistance in thoracic CT part 2. Therapy monitoring of pulmonary metastases.

Owing to the rapid development of scanner technology, thoracic computed tomography (CT) offers new possibilities but also faces enormous challenges with respect to the quality of computer-assisted diagnosis and therapy planning. In the framework of the Virtual Institute for Computer Assistance in Clinical Radiology cooperative research project, a software application was developed to assist the radiologist in the analysis of thoracic CT data for the purpose of evaluating the response to tumor therapy. The application provides follow-up support for monitoring of tumor therapy by means of volumetric quantification of tumors and temporal registration. In addition, anatomically adequate three-dimensional visualization techniques for convenient examination of large data sets are included. With close cooperation between computer scientists and radiologists, the application was tested and optimized to achieve a high degree of usability. Several clinical studies were carried out, the results of which indicated that the application improves therapy monitoring with respect to accuracy and time required.