A new method with variable injection parameters in contrast-enhanced CT: a phantom study for evaluating an aortic peak enhancement

Contrast-enhanced CT employs a standard uniphasic single-injection method (SIM), wherein administration is based on two parameters: the iodine administration rate (mgI/s) and the injection duration (s). However, as the SIM uses a fixed iodine administration rate, only a uniform contrast enhancement can be achieved with this method. The iodine administration rate can be increased only by increasing the iodine dose or shortening the injection duration, and no arbitrary adjustments can be made to the peak enhancement characteristics of the time-enhancement curves (TECs) at the fixed injection parameters used in the SIM. To address this problem, we developed a variable injection method (VIM) with a new parameter, the variation factor (VF), to adjust the TECs. A phantom study with the VIM indicated that arbitrary adjustments to the iodine administration rate could be made without changing the injection duration or increasing the iodine load. In our study, VFs of 0.3 and 0.5, which showed earlier achievement of peak enhancements, showed better temporal separation between arterial vasculature and parenchyma or the venous vasculature than that obtained with the SIM. The higher peak enhancement provided by the VF of 0.3 was also considered to improve the contrast in qualitative diagnostic examinations. A VF of 0.5 increased the duration of the enhancement and was considered to produce stable enhancement of contrast in vascular investigations. The VF is now an essential parameter, and the VIM is useful as a reasonable contrast method that may contribute to both improved visualization and improvement in the accuracy of morphologic diagnosis.