Weight-adapted ultra-low-dose pancreatic perfusion CT: radiation dose, image quality, and perfusion parameters

We evaluate the reliability and feasibility of weight-adapted ultra-low-dose pancreatic perfusion CT.

A total of 100 (47 men, 53 women) patients were enrolled prospectively and were assigned to five groups (A, B, C, D, and E) with different combination of tube voltage and tube current according to their body weight. Radiation dose parameters including volume CT dose index (CTDI) and dose-length product (DLP) were recorded. Image quality was evaluated both subjectively and objectively (noise, signal-to-noise ratio, contrast-to-noise ratio). Perfusion parameters including blood flow (BF), blood volume (BV), and permeability (PMB) were measured. The dose, image quality measurements, and perfusion parameters were compared between the five groups using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Radiation dose reached 8.7 mSv in patients under 50 kg and was 18.9 mSv in patients above 80 kg. The mean subjective image quality score was above 4.45 on a 5-point scale with good agreement between two radiologists. Groups A-D had equivalent performance on objective image quality (P > 0.05), while Group E performed even better (P < 0.05). No significant differences emerged in comparison with perfusion parameters (BF, BV, PMB) of normal pancreas parenchyma between the five groups.

Weight-adapted ultra-low-dose pancreatic perfusion CT can effectively reduce radiation dose without prejudice to image quality, and the perfusion parameters of normal parenchyma are accurate and reliable.