Conventional versus ultra-low dose computed tomogram in Crohn's disease: Do morphomics correlate with clinical data?

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging
• Body Composition Analysis

Background:

• Crohn's disease (CD) patients often undergo abdominal and pelvic CT scans.
• Assessing body composition in CD is crucial for understanding disease impact.
• Standard dose CT protocols involve significant radiation exposure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate if low-dose CT (LDCT) protocols can yield body morphometric data comparable to standard-dose CT (SDCT).
• To assess the reliability of LDCT for body composition analysis in CD patients.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective cross-sectional study of 49 CD patients.
• Comparison of CT abdomen and pelvis (CTAP) images from LDCT and SDCT protocols.
• Analysis using a semi-automated threshold-based segmentation tool (CoreSlicer) to measure tissue cross-sectional area (CSA) and Hounsfield units (HU).

Main Results:

• Muscle and fat CSA were well-preserved between LDCT and SDCT, showing strong positive correlations.
• Marginally lower muscle attenuation was observed on SDCT compared to LDCT.
• Comparable morphomic data (CSA) was obtained from both protocols.

Conclusions:

• LDCT protocols can generate comparable and reliable morphomic data for muscle and fat in CD patients.
• Threshold-based segmentation tools are effective for quantifying body morphomics on both LDCT and SDCT.
• LDCT offers a viable alternative for body composition assessment in CD, reducing radiation dose.