Three-dimensional modeling of lung morphogenesis using fractals

The bronchial tree is one of the most well known fractal structure in the human body. Fractal objects like the bronchial tree have complex structures with self-similar properties over different scales. The fractal structure of the bronchial tree is imposed by optimization of resource utilization requirements in the lung, such as efficient distribution of blood and air. Thus, the morphology of the lung is directly related to its function and changes in its structure can be linked to disfunction. Since the bronchial tree is a fractal structure, its fractal dimension can be used as a tool for the detection of structure changes and quantification of lung disease. In this paper, we present an algorithm for the construction of a 3-D bronchial tree model based on fractal growth rules and actual morphometric data. The 3-D fractal dimension of the model is computed and subsequently compared with the 3-D fractal dimension of a bronchial tree segmented from normal actual lung data.