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Published on: February 1, 2016
Dose performance of a 64-channel dual-source CT scanner
Cynthia H McCollough1, Andrew N Primak, Osama Saba
1CT Clinical Innovation Center, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, 200 First St SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. mccollough.cynthia@mayo.edu
Radiology
|April 21, 2007
Summary
Dual-source CT scanners offer comparable or lower radiation doses than multi-detector row CT scanners for coronary CT angiography. This dose reduction is achieved through advanced techniques and varies with patient heart rate.
Area of Science:
- Medical Imaging
- Radiology
- Computed Tomography (CT)
Background:
- Radiation dose is a critical consideration in computed tomography (CT) imaging.
- Advancements in CT technology aim to reduce patient dose while maintaining diagnostic image quality.
- Dual-source CT (DSCT) systems represent a technological evolution from multi-detector row CT (MDCT).
Purpose of the Study:
- To prospectively compare the radiation dose performance of a 64-channel MDCT scanner and a 64-channel DSCT scanner from the same manufacturer.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of dose-reduction techniques employed by the DSCT system in cardiac imaging protocols.
Main Methods:
- DSCT system utilized cardiac beam-shaping filter, 3D adaptive noise reduction, heart rate-dependent pitch, and ECG-based tube current modulation.
- Weighted CT dose index (CTDIw) per 100 mAs measured for head, body, and cardiac filters.
- Kerma-length product (KLP) measured in spiral cardiac mode across varying pitch values and ECG modulation windows; noise assessed in an anthropomorphic phantom.
Main Results:
- DSCT demonstrated lower CTDIw per 100 mAs compared to MDCT for head (12.2 vs 14.2 mGy), body (6.4 vs 6.8 mGy), and cardiac (5.3 vs 6.8 mGy) filters.
- In spiral cardiac mode, equivalent noise levels were achieved at higher volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) values with DSCT for coronary artery calcium (35.0 vs 23.7 mGy) and CT angiography (61.2 vs 58.9 mGy).
- Heart rate-dependent pitch and ECG-based tube current modulation significantly reduced CTDIvol in DSCT, achieving dose reductions up to a factor of two compared to MDCT for equivalent image noise.
Conclusions:
- DSCT can achieve image noise equivalent to MDCT during electrocardiographically gated coronary CT angiography.
- DSCT offers comparable or up to twofold lower radiation doses than MDCT for coronary CT angiography, contingent on patient heart rate.
- The implemented dose-reduction strategies in DSCT are effective in optimizing radiation exposure for cardiac imaging.
