Diego Lira

Computed tomography (CT) of the chest at less than 1 mSv: an ongoing prospective clinical trial of chest CT at submillisievert radiation doses with iterative model image reconstruction and iDose4 technique.

Purpose To assess lesion detection and diagnostic confidence of computed tomography (CT) of the chest performed at less than 1 mSv with 2 iterative reconstruction (IR) techniques. Materials and Methods Ten patients gave written informed consent for the acquisitions of images at submillisievert dose (0.9 mSv), in addition to clinical standard-dose (SD) chest CT (2.9 mSv). Submillisievert images were reconstructed with iDose4 and iterative model reconstruction (IMR). Two radiologists assessed lesion detection, margins, diagnostic confidence, and visibility of small structures. Objective noise and noise spectral density were measured. Results Lesion detection was identical for standard-dose filtered back projection (FBP), submSv iDose4, and submSv IMR. Lesion margins were better seen for 30% of detected lung lesions with submSv IMR compared to standard-dose FBP and submSv iDose4 (P < 0.05). Visibility of abdominal structures, and diagnostic confidence with submSv iDose4 and submSv IMR were similar to standard-dose FBP. There was 21% to 64% noise reduction with submSv IMR and 1% to 15% higher noise with iDose4 compared to standard-dose FBP (P < 0.0001). Conclusions Submillisievert IMR improves delineation of lesion margins compared to standard-dose FBP and submSv iDose4.

Radiation dose optimization and thoracic computed tomography.

In the past 3 decades, radiation dose from computed tomography (CT) has contributed to an increase in overall radiation exposure to the population. This increase has caused concerns over harmful effects of radiation dose associated with CT in scientific publications as well as in the lay press. To address these concerns, and reduce radiation dose, several strategies to optimize radiation dose have been developed and assessed, including manual or automatic adjustment of scan parameters. This article describes conventional and contemporary techniques to reduce radiation dose associated with chest CT.

Tube potential and CT radiation dose optimization

OBJECTIVE This article describes tube potential and its effect on image quality and radiation dose for CT in different body regions and clinical indications. CONCLUSION Tube potential is an important scanning parameter for radiation dose optimization. Reduction of tube potential results in increased image contrast of iodine-enhanced CT as well as increased image noise.

Iterative image reconstruction and its role in cardiothoracic computed tomography.

Revolutionary developments in multidetector-row computed tomography (CT) scanner technology offer several advantages for imaging of cardiothoracic disorders. As a result, expanding applications of CT now account for >85 million CT examinations annually in the United States alone. Given the large number of CT examinations performed, concerns over increase in population-based risk for radiation-induced carcinogenesis have made CT radiation dose a top safety concern in health care. In response to this concern, several technologies have been developed to reduce the dose with more efficient use of scan parameters and the use of “newer” image reconstruction techniques. Although iterative image reconstruction algorithms were first introduced in the 1970s, filtered back projection was chosen as the conventional image reconstruction technique because of its simplicity and faster reconstruction times. With subsequent advances in computational speed and power, iterative reconstruction techniques have reemerged and have shown the potential of radiation dose optimization without adversely influencing diagnostic image quality. In this article, we review the basic principles of different iterative reconstruction algorithms and their implementation for various clinical applications in cardiothoracic CT examinations for reducing radiation dose.

In vitro dose measurements in a human cadaver with abdomen/pelvis CT scans

PURPOSE To present a study of radiation dose measurements with a human cadaver scanned on a clinical CT scanner. METHODS Multiple point dose measurements were obtained with high-accuracy Thimble ionization chambers placed inside the stomach, liver, paravertebral gutter, ascending colon, left kidney, and urinary bladder of a human cadaver (183 cm in height and 67.5 kg in weight) whose abdomen/pelvis region was scanned repeatedly with a multidetector row CT. The flat energy response and precision of the dosimeters were verified, and the slight differences in each dosimeters response were evaluated and corrected to attain high accuracy. In addition, skin doses were measured for radiosensitive organs outside the scanned region with OSL dosimeters: the right eye, thyroid, both nipples, and the right testicle. Three scan protocols were used, which shared most scan parameters but had different kVp and mA settings: 120-kVp automA, 120-kVp 300 mA, and 100-kVp 300 mA. For each protocol three repeated scans were performed. RESULTS The tube starting angle (TSA) was found to randomly vary around two major conditions, which caused large fluctuations in the repeated point dose measurements: for the 120-kVp 300 mA protocol this angle changed from approximately 110° to 290°, and caused 8%-25% difference in the point dose measured at the stomach, liver, colon, and urinary bladder. When the fluctuations of the TSA were small (within 5°), the maximum coefficient of variance was approximately 3.3%. The soft tissue absorbed doses averaged from four locations near the center of the scanned region were 27.2±3.3 and 16.5±2.7 mGy for the 120 and 100-kVp fixed-mA scans, respectively. These values were consistent with the corresponding size specific dose estimates within 4%. The comparison of the per-100-mAs tissue doses from the three protocols revealed that: (1) dose levels at nonsuperficial locations in the TCM scans could not be accurately deduced by simply scaling the fix-mA doses with local mA values; (2) the general power law relationship between dose and kVp varied from location to location, with the power index ranged between 2.7 and 3.5. The averaged dose measurements at both nipples, which were about 0.6 cm outside the prescribed scan region, ranged from 23 to 27 mGy at the left nipple, and varied from 3 to 20 mGy at the right nipple over the three scan protocols. Large fluctuations over repeated scans were also observed, as a combined result of helical scans of large pitch (1.375) and small active areas of the skin dosimeters. In addition, the averaged skin dose fell off drastically with the distance to the nearest boundary of the scanned region. CONCLUSIONS This study revealed the complexity of CT dose fluctuation and variation with a human cadaver.

Assessment of sub-milli-sievert abdominal computed tomography with iterative reconstruction techniques of different vendors

AIM To assess diagnostic image quality of reduced dose (RD) abdominal computed tomography (CT) with 9 iterative reconstruction techniques (IRTs) from 4 different vendors to the standard of care (SD) CT. METHODS In an Institutional Review Board approved study, 66 patients (mean age 60 ± 13 years, 44 men, and 22 women) undergoing routine abdomen CT on multi-detector CT (MDCT) scanners from vendors A, B, and C (≥ 64 row CT scanners) (22 patients each) gave written informed consent for acquisition of an additional RD CT series. Sinogram data of RD CT was reconstructed with two vendor-specific and a vendor-neutral IRTs (A-1, A-2, A-3; B-1, B-2, B-3; and C-1, C-2, C-3) and SD CT series with filtered back projection. Subjective image evaluation was performed by two radiologists for each SD and RD CT series blinded and independently. All RD CT series (198) were assessed first followed by SD CT series (66). Objective image noise was measured for SD and RD CT series. Data were analyzed by Wilcoxon signed rank, kappa, and analysis of variance tests. RESULTS There were 13/50, 18/57 and 9/40 missed lesions (size 2-7 mm) on RD CT for vendor A, B, and C, respectively. Missed lesions includes liver cysts, kidney cysts and stone, gall stone, fatty liver, and pancreatitis. There were also 5, 4, and 4 pseudo lesions (size 2-3 mm) on RD CT for vendor A, B, and C, respectively. Lesions conspicuity was sufficient for clinical diagnostic performance for 6/24 (RD-A-1), 10/24 (RD-A-2), and 7/24 (RD-A-3) lesions for vendor A; 5/26 (RD-B-1), 6/26 (RD-B-2), and 7/26 (RD-B-3) lesions for vendor B; and 4/20 (RD-C-1) 6/20 (RD-C-2), and 10/20 (RD-C-3) lesions for vendor C (P = 0.9). Mean objective image noise in liver was significantly lower for RD A-1 compared to both RD A-2 and RD A-3 images (P < 0.001). Similarly, mean objective image noise lower for RD B-2 (compared to RD B-1, RD B-3) and RD C-3 (compared to RD C-1 and C-2) (P = 0.016). CONCLUSION Regardless of IRTs and MDCT vendors, abdominal CT acquired at mean CT dose index volume 1.3 mGy is not sufficient to retain clinical diagnostic performance.

Role of Compressive Sensing Technique in Dose Reduction for Chest Computed Tomography: A Prospective Blinded Clinical Study

Purpose The purpose of this study was to assess pulmonary lesion detection, diagnostic confidence, and noise reduction in sparse-sampled (SpS) computed tomographic (CT) data of submillisievert (SubmSv) chest CT reconstructed with iterative reconstruction technique (IRT). Materials and Methods This Human Insurance Portability and Accountability–compliant, institutional review board–approved prospective study was performed using SpS-SubmSv IRT chest CT in 10 non–obese patients (body-mass index, 21–35 kg/m2; age range, 26–90 years). Written informed consent was obtained. The patients were scanned at standard-dose CT (mean [SD] volumetric CT dose index, 6 [0.9] mGy; mean [SD] dose-length product, 208 ± 44 mGy·cm; and mean [SD] effective dose, 3 [0.6] mSv) and at SubmSv dose (1.8 [0.2] mGy, 67 [2] mGy·cm, 0.9 [0.03] mSv, respectively) on a Philips 128-slice CT scanner with double z-sampling. Sparse angular sampling data were reconstructed using 25% of the angular projections from the SubmSv sinogram to reduce the number of views and radiation dose by approximately 4-fold. Hence, the patients were scanned and then, simulation-based sparse sampling was performed with a resultant dose hypothetical SpS scan estimated mathematically (0.2 mSv). From each patient data, 3 digital imaging and communications in medicine series were generated: SpS-SubmSv with IRT, fully sampled SubmSv filtered back projection (FBP), and fully sampled standard-dose FBP (SD-FBP). Two radiologists independently assessed these image series for detection of lung lesions, visibility of small structures, and diagnostic acceptability. Objective noise was measured in the thoracic aorta, and noise spectral density was obtained for SpS-SubmSv IRT, SubmSv-FBP, and SD-FBP. Results The SpS-SubmSv IRT resulted in 75% (0.2/0.9 mSv) and 92% (0.2/2.9 mSv) dose reduction, when compared with the fully sampled SubmSv-FBP and SD-FBP, respectively. Images of SpS-SubmSv displayed all 46 lesions (most <1 cm, 30 lung nodules, 7 ground glass opacities, 9 emphysema) seen on the SubmSv-FBP and SD-FBP data sets. Lesion margins with sparse-sampled data were deemed acceptable compared with both SubmSv-FBP and SD-FBP. Overall diagnostic confidence was maintained with SpS-SubmSv IRT despite the presence of minor pixilation artifacts in 3 of 10 cases. The SpS-SubmSv IRT showed 63% and 38% noise reduction when compared with SubmSv-FBP (P < 0.0001) and SD-FBP (P < 0.01), respectively, with no significant change in Hounsfield unit values (P > 0.05). Noise-spectral density showed that SpS-SubmSv IRT gives a linear decrease over frequency in the semilog plot and an exponential decrease of noise power over frequency compared with SubmSv-FBP and SD-FBP. Conclusions More than 90% dose reduction could be achieved with one-fourth sparse-sampled and SubmSv chest CT examination when reconstructed with IRT. Chest CT dose at one fourth of a millisievert with SpS is possible with optimal lesion detection and diagnostic confidence for the evaluation of pulmonary findings.

Point Organ Radiation Dose in Abdominal CT: Effect of Patient Off-Centering in an Experimental Human Cadaver Study

To determine the effect of patient off-centering on point organ radiation dose measurements in a human cadaver scanned with routine abdominal CT protocol. A human cadaver (88 years, body-mass-index 20 kg/m2) was scanned with routine abdominal CT protocol on 128-slice dual source MDCT (Definition Flash, Siemens). A total of 18 scans were performed using two scan protocols (a) 120 kV-200 mAs fixed-mA (CTDIvol 14 mGy) (b) 120 kV-125 ref mAs (7 mGy) with automatic exposure control (AEC, CareDose 4D) at three different positions (a) gantry isocenter, (b) upward off-centering and (c) downward off-centering. Scanning was repeated three times at each position. Six thimble (in liver, stomach, kidney, pancreas, colon and urinary bladder) and four MOSFET dosimeters (on cornea, thyroid, testicle and breast) were placed for calculation of measured point organ doses. Organ dose estimations were retrieved from dose-tracking software (eXposure, Radimetrics). Statistical analysis was performed using analysis of variance. There was a significant difference between the trends of point organ doses with AEC and fixed-mA at all three positions (p < 0.01). Variation in point doses between fixed-mA and AEC protocols were statistically significant across all organs at all Table positions (p < 0.001). There was up to 5-6% decrease in point doses with upward off-centering and in downward off-centering. There were statistical significant differences in point doses from dosimeters and dose-tracking software (mean difference for internal organs, 5-36% for fixed-mA & 7-48% for AEC protocols; p < 0.001; mean difference for surface organs, >92% for both protocols; p < 0.0001). For both protocols, the highest mean difference in point doses was found for stomach and lowest for colon. Measured absorbed point doses in abdominal CT vary with patient-centering in the gantry isocenter. Due to lack of consideration of patient positioning in the dose estimation on automatic software-over estimation of the doses up to 92% was reported.

What Is the Minimal Radiation Dose That Can Be Used for Detecting Pleural Effusion

OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to assess the effect of radiation dose reduction on the detection of pleural effusions, thickening, and calcifications. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-five human cadavers (mean age at death, 60 ± 17 [SD] years; male-female ratio, 29:16; mean body mass index, 29 ± 5.7 [SD] kg/m(2)) were scanned at seven different dose levels (CT Dose Index volume [CTDIvol] = 20, 12, 10, 6, 4, 2, and 0.8 mGy) on a 128-MDCT unit (Definition FLASH). Images were reconstructed at a 3-mm slice thickness and 2-mm increment with filtered back projection (FBP) technique. Two chest radiologists independently reviewed all image series for the detection of pleural effusion, pleural calcification, and adjacent parenchymal opacification from atelectasis or consolidation. Objective image noise was measured at each dose level on the pleural effusion using ImageJ software. Data analysis was performed with the Student t test and kappa test. RESULTS Pleural effusions were seen in 39 of 45 cadavers on image series acquired at 2-20 mGy. Only 14 of 39 pleural effusions were identified at 0.8 mGy. Pleural effusions were not detected in 25 of 39 cadavers at 0.8 mGy because of photon starvation and increased image noise. Patient size was significantly larger in subjects with undetected pleural effusion than in those with detectable pleural effusion at 0.8 mGy (p < 0.01). Pleural calcifications and thickening (seen at 2-10 mGy images in three of three cadavers) were not identified on 0.8-mGy FBP images. On the other hand, adjacent parenchymal opacification could be assessed at all dose levels. The mean CT numbers of the pleural effusion were significantly lower on 0.8-mGy images than on images obtained at all other dose levels (-21 ± 55 [SD] vs 17.6 ± 19 HU, respectively) (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION Pleural effusions, thickening, and calcifications can be seen on FBP images reconstructed at a CTDIvol as low as 2 mGy (32-cm body phantom). CT at 0.8 mGy may provide suboptimal information on very small pleural effusions, pleural thickening, and calcifications.