Body interventional procedures: which is the best method for CT guidance?

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Interventional Radiology
• Radiation Safety

Background:

• Interventional radiology procedures require precise guidance for safety and efficacy.
• Minimizing radiation exposure to patients is a critical aspect of modern medical imaging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare sequential fluoroscopy guidance with spiral guidance for whole-body interventional procedures.
• To evaluate differences in safety, effectiveness, procedural speed, and radiation dose.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of data from the CTNAV2 multicentre study.
• Inclusion of 385 patients: 247 in sequential (SEQ) and 138 in spiral (SPI) groups.
• Assessment of safety via major complications, effectiveness by target reach, and collection of procedural time and radiation data.

Main Results:

• No significant differences in success rates (99.6% vs 99.3%) or procedural times (7 min 40 s vs 7 min 13 s) between groups.
• Major complication rates were similar (2.43% vs 5.8%).
• Sequential fluoroscopy resulted in an 84% lower radiation dose (54.8 mGy cm) compared to spiral guidance (352.6 mGy cm).

Conclusions:

• Sequential CT fluoroscopy guidance is as safe, effective, and fast as spiral guidance for whole-body interventional procedures.
• Sequential guidance offers a substantial reduction in patient radiation dose.
• This finding supports the adoption of sequential fluoroscopy for improved radiation safety in interventional radiology.