The purpose of this study was to develop dedicated software for quantitative analysis of the airways and to validate the software using airway phantoms and excised swine lung.

The dedicated software was validated in airway phantoms and excised swine lung through comparison of the actual values with the measurements acquired with dedicated software. The accuracy of the measurements according to the reconstruction methods (standard, lung, sharp) and spatial resolution were compared using airway phantoms. Repeatability of the measurement of airway phantoms was assessed with follow-up CT scans three months later.

Airway dimension measurements obtained in airway phantoms and excised swine lung showed good agreements with actual values. Airway measurements were more accurate when the sharp reconstruction algorithm was used and when the spatial resolution was improved using pixels smaller than conventional size. There was good agreement between the initial airway measurements and those obtained three months later.

We developed and validated dedicated software for quantitative airway measurement. Recon-struction with sharp algorithms and high spatial resolution images is recommended for obtaining airway measurements.