Analysis of time-density curves of contrast media for improvement of chest dynamic incremental CT

The goal of this work was to analyze time-density curves (TDCs) of contrast media (CM) in the mediastinal vasculature to optimize chest dynamic incremental CT.

Forty-three patients were injected with nonionic CM into the forearm veins with injection rates (ml/s), durations (s), and total amounts (ml) of 2.0, 20, and 40 (protocol 1); 4.0, 20, and 80 (protocol 2); and 2.0, 40, and 80 (protocol 3). TDCs were obtained for the pulmonary trunk (PA) and ascending (AA) and descending (DA) aorta from dynamic scans. Areas under the curves (AUCs) of TDCs for imaginary 30 s scans were evaluated.

AUC peaks were obtained after 10, 17, and 19 s (PA, AA and DA; protocol 1; 9, 16, and 18 s (protocol 2); and 18, 25, and 28 s (protocol 3) delay time.

Better chest dynamic incremental CT would be expected with scan midpoints a little after the end of injection of CM.