A SIMPLIFIED METHOD FOR THE WATER-EQUIVALENT DIAMETER CALCULATION TO ESTIMATE PATIENT DOSE IN CT EXAMINATIONS

We proposed and evaluated a water-equivalent diameter calculation without using a region of interest (ROI), (Dw,t) and compared it with the results of using a ROI fitted to the patient border (Dw,f). Evaluations were carried out on thoracic and head CT images. We found that the difference between Dw,t and Dw,f was within 5% for all images in the head region, and most images were within 5% (27 of the 30 patients, 90%) in the thoracic region. We also proposed a method to automatically detect and eliminate the patient table (or head support) from images and evaluated the water-equivalent diameter values after the table had been removed (Dw,nt). This method was able to recognize and remove the patient table from all images used. By removing the table, the water-equivalent diameter (Dw,nt) became more accurate and the difference from Dw,f was within 5% for all images (head and thoracic images).