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Computed tomography pulmonary angiography using a 20% reduction in contrast medium dose delivered in a multiphasic
Mitchell Chen1, Gaith Mattar1, Jamal A Abdulkarim1
1Mitchell Chen, Jamal A Abdulkarim, Department of Radiology, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, Nuneaton, Warwickshire CV10 7DJ, United Kingdom.
Aim:
To evaluate the feasibility of reducing the dose of iodinated contrast agent in computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA).
Methods:
One hundred and twenty-seven patients clinically suspected of having pulmonary embolism underwent spiral CTPA, out of whom fifty-seven received 75 mL and the remaining seventy a lower dose of 60 mL of contrast agent. Both doses were administered in a multiphasic injection. A minimum opacification threshold of 250 Hounsfield units (HU) in the main pulmonary artery is used for assessing the technical adequacy of the scans.
Results:
Mean opacification was found to be positively correlated to patient age (Pearson's correlation 0.4255, P < 0.0001) and independent of gender (male:female, 425.6 vs 450.4, P = 0.34). When age is accounted for, the study and control groups did not differ significantly in their mean opacification in the main (436.8 vs 437.9, P = 0.48), left (416.6 vs 419.8, P = 0.45) or the right pulmonary arteries (417.3 vs 423.5, P = 0.40). The number of sub-optimally opacified scans (the mean opacification in the main pulmonary artery < 250 HU) did not differ significantly between the study and control groups (7 vs 10).
Conclusion:
A lower dose of iodine contrast at 60 mL can be feasibly used in CTPA without resulting in a higher number of sub-optimally opacified scans.