[Low-dose chest CT with millimetric thin slices: myth or reality?]

To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of millimetric thin slices low dose chest CT.

Forty one patients underwent a chest CT thin slices (1 mm every 10 mm) exploration using both a 170 milliamperage and a low dose acquisition using 80 mA. The examination were read by 2 senior radiologists specialized in chest imaging without knowledge of acquisition parameters and in a random order. A statistical analysis of interobserver agreement was performed using Kappa analysis. Doses of both acquisition were estimated by compagning the dose length product calculated by the CT software and be using a simulation software.

Excellent interobserver and intermodalities agreements were found. A 53% decrease in dose was estimated with the low dose modality compare to the normal dose.

Low dose thin slice chest CT using 80 mA has a similar diagnosis accuracy as standard dose thin slice chest CT and delivers half dose of irradiation.