Prospective Comparison of Reduced-Iodine-Dose Virtual Monochromatic Imaging Dataset From Dual-Energy CT Angiography With Standard-Iodine-Dose Single-Energy CT Angiography for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to compare the image quality of reduced-iodine-dose single-source dual-energy CT angiography (CTA) with that of standard-iodine-dose single-energy CTA in examinations of patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm and to assess the effect of the concentration of iodinated contrast medium on intravascular enhancement and image quality of reduced-iodine-dose CTA. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. In a prospective randomized clinical trial, 66 consecutively registered patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm who had previously undergone single-energy CTA (30–37 g I) underwent follow-up CTA at a reduced dose (21–27 g I) of iodinated contrast medium of either 270 mg I/mL (n = 33) or 320 mg I/mL (n = 33). Two readers independently evaluated virtual monochromatic imaging datasets (40–140 keV) and single-energy CTA images for image quality and noise and their preference for optimal energy virtual monochromatic imaging dataset. A value of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. R...