Reducing the CT colonography radiation dose from 120 kVp to 100 kVp resulted in a significant decrease in dose but minimal decrease in 3D image quality.
Reducing the CT colonography radiation dose from 120 kVp to 100 kVp resulted in a significant decrease in radiation dose but only minimal decrease in 3D image quality, according to a study in the journal Radiology.
Researchers from Brown University assessed the effect of decreasing tube voltage on dose, contrast-to-noise (CNR) ratio, and 3D image quality in patients undergoing CT colonography. To do so, they looked at 63 consecutive patients who underwent CT colonography supine (at 100 kVp) and prone (11 kVp). All recorded data were stratified by patient anteroposterior diameter in order to determine effects of patient size.
The results showed that there was a 20 percent decrease in volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) and a 16 percent decrease in dose-length (DLP) when tube voltage was decreased. There was also an increase in image noise of 32 percent with the lower dose. Mean attenuation in tagged fluid increased from 395 to 487 HU, but there was no change in mean CNR of tagged fluid regardless of patient size.
Regarding image quality, the researchers found that there was only a slight decrease in 3D quality, from a median score of 4 out of 5, down from 5 out of 5.
Study with CT Data Suggests Women with PE Have More Than Triple the One-Year Mortality Rate than Men
April 3rd 2025After a multivariable assessment including age and comorbidities, women with pulmonary embolism (PE) had a 48 percent higher risk of one-year mortality than men with PE, according to a new study involving over 33,000 patients.
The Reading Room: Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Cancer Screenings, and COVID-19
November 3rd 2020In this podcast episode, Dr. Shalom Kalnicki, from Montefiore and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses the disparities minority patients face with cancer screenings and what can be done to increase access during the pandemic.
Predicting Diabetes on CT Scans: What New Research Reveals with Pancreatic Imaging Biomarkers
March 25th 2025Attenuation-based biomarkers on computed tomography (CT) scans demonstrated a 93 percent interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) agreement across three pancreatic segmentation algorithms for predicting diabetes, according to a study involving over 9,700 patients.
Can Photon-Counting CT be an Alternative to MRI for Assessing Liver Fat Fraction?
March 21st 2025Photon-counting CT fat fraction evaluation offered a maximum sensitivity of 81 percent for detecting steatosis and had a 91 percent ICC agreement with MRI proton density fat fraction assessment, according to new prospective research.