Low-Dose Carotid Computed Tomography Angiography Using Pure Iterative Reconstruction. Issue 5 (September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Moloney, Fiachra; Murphy, Kevin P.; Twomey, Maria; Crush, Lee; Canniffe, Emma M.; McLaughlin, Patrick D.; Moore, Niamh; O'Keeffe, Michael; O'Neill, Siobhan; Manning, Brian M.; Wyse, Gerald; Fanning, Noel; O'Connor, Owen J.; Maher, Michael M.
• Is Part Of: Journal of computer assisted tomography. Volume 40:Issue 5(2016)
• Publication Date: 2016-09
• Subjects: carotid artery disease -- radiation dose -- stroke -- angiography -- multidetector CT; Tomography -- Periodicals; Tomography -- Periodicals; Tomography; Periodicals; 616.0757
• DOI: 10.1097/RCT.0000000000000436
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0363-8715

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess if a low-dose carotid computed tomography angiography (CTA) performed with pure iterative reconstruction (IR) is comparable to a conventional dose CTA protocol. Methods: Twenty patients were included. Radiation dose was divided into a low-dose acquisition reconstructed with pure IR and a conventional dose acquisition reconstructed with 40% hybrid IR. Dose, image noise, contrast resolution, spatial resolution, and carotid artery stenosis were measured. Results: Mean effective dose was significantly lower for low-dose than conventional dose studies (1.84 versus 3.71 mSv; P < 0.001). Subjective image noise, contrast resolution, and spatial resolution were significantly higher for the low-dose studies. There was excellent agreement for stenosis grading accuracy between low- and conventional dose studies (Cohen κ = 0.806). Conclusions: A low-dose carotid CTA protocol reconstructed with pure IR is comparable to a conventional dose CTA protocol in terms of image quality and diagnostic accuracy while enabling a dose reduction of 49.6%.