Submillisievert chest dual energy computed tomography: a pilot study

Objective:To assess if diagnostic dual energy CT (DECT) of the chest can be achieved at submillisievert (sub-mSv) doses.Methods:Our IRB-approved prospective study included 20 patients who were scanned on dual-source multidector CT(MDCT). All patients gave written informed consent for acquisition of additional image series at reduced radiation dose on a dual-source MDCT (80/140 kV) within 10 s after the standard of care acquisition. Dose reduction was achieved by reducing the quality reference milliampere-second, with combined angular exposure control. Four readers, blinded to all clinical data, evaluated the image sets. Image noise, signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratio were assessed. Volumetric CT dose index (CTDIvol), doselength product (DLP), size specific dose estimate, and effective dose were also recorded.Results:The mean age and body mass index of the patients were 71 years ± 9 and 24 kg m−2 ± 3, respectively. Although images became noisier, overall image quality and image sharpness on blende...