A Survey of Radiation Doses in CT Urography Before and After Implementation of Iterative Reconstruction

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to survey the radiation dose used in CT urography (CTU) in routine clinical practice, both before and after implementation of a scanning protocol that uses iterative reconstruction (Adaptive Iterative Dose Reduction 3D [AIDR 3D]). MATERIALS AND METHODS. We retrospectively surveyed dose reports from consecutive CTU examinations performed in 2011 with the use of 64- and 320-MDCT scanners that were reconstructed with filtered back projection (FBP) and from CTU examinations performed from May 2012 through November 2013 that were reconstructed with the use of AIDR 3D. Findings from these dose reports were then correlated with such patient characteristics as weight and body mass index (BMI; weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters). Only dose reports from single-bolus three-phase CTU examinations were included in the study. The volume CT dose index, dose-length product (DLP), and effective dose were surveyed both per examination and per phase by use ...