Model-based iterative reconstruction and adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction techniques in abdominal CT: comparison of image quality in the detection of colorectal liver metastases
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Updated: May 9, 2026
Advanced Animal Model of Colorectal Metastasis in Liver: Imaging Techniques and Properties of Metastatic Clones
Published on: November 30, 2016
David Volders1, Alain Bols, Marc Haspeslagh
1Departments of Radiology, Oncology, and Hospital Administration and Statistics, AZ St.-Jan Brugge-Oostende AV, Ruddershove 10, B-8000 Bruges, Belgium.
Purpose:
To prospectively evaluate dose reduction and image quality characteristics of abdominal computed tomographic (CT) scans reconstructed with model-based iterative reconstruction (MBIR) compared with adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASIR) in oncology patients with colorectal liver metastases.
Materials And Methods:
The study complied with HIPAA guidelines and was approved by the ethics committee of the institutional review board. All patients gave written informed consent. Fifty-one patients with colorectal liver metastases underwent body CT (thorax and abdomen) with a 64-section multidetector unit. With a radiation dose reduction by 2.36 mGy compared to standard of care CT with ASIR 50% (radiation dose, 7.54 mGy), MBIR can provide diagnostically acceptable CT scans without compromising image quality. Two radiologists independently assessed randomized images in a blinded manner. Imaging sets were compared for lesion detection, lesion conspicuity, overall image quality, and signal-to-noise ratio with a paired sample t test. Inter- and intraobserver agreement was assessed with the Cohen κ.
Results:
The mean volume CT dose index was 5.18 mGy ± 0.76, mean dose-length product 374 mGy · cm ± 63.47, mean effective diameter 29.38 cm ± 3.46, and mean size-specific dose estimate 6.52 mGy ± 0.73. In small liver lesions (<10 mm), detection and conspicuity were significantly higher with MBIR than with ASIR for both right (t = 3.245, P = .004 and t = 2.696, P = .013, respectively) and left (t = 2.390, P = .038 and t = 2.283, P = .046) liver lobes. Subjective image noise (t = 4.506, P < .001), artifacts (t = 3.479, P = .001), and diagnostic confidence (t = 2.643, P = .011) were significantly better with MBIR than with ASIR.
Conclusion:
MBIR performed better than ASIR 50% at providing diagnostically acceptable CT scans without compromising image quality and in the detection of colorectal liver metastases.
