PURPOSE: To compare radiation dose and image quality in regular, low, and ultralow dose CT protocols, and to evaluate diagnostic performance of low dose CT for urolithiasis. Introduction Urolithiasis is a common health problem, and its estimated lifetime risk is 5-10% in Europe and the United States [1-3]. An increase in incidence and prevalence of the disease has been reported worldwide in both children and adults [4-7]. For these patients, multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) provides a rapid and accurate examination with high sensitivity, specificity and...

This study was approved by the institutional review board and informed consent was obtained from all of the patients after providing the study’s details, including information on the additional radiation dose. Patient Population and Study Design Between February and May 2013, 336 consecutive patients who were suspected of having urolithiasis and scheduled to undergo non-enhanced CT were enrolled in this study. Instead of using specific eligibility criteria, we relied on the assessments carried out by the outpatient or emergency room physicians that led to the...

Patient Population Ultimately, 46 men and 19 women (65 total patients) were included in this study. The mean age of patients was 49.6 years and the range of the age was 19-83 years. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 24.3 kg/m2 and the range of BMI was 16.2 to 36.4. Radiation Dose The effective radiation doses of each protocol were 6.29 mSv ± 1.76 (RD), 1.48 mSv ± 0.44 (LD), and the assumed effective dose of the full scan range (same range from the...

CT is the best and the first line imaging examination for urolithiasis. As increased fear of the potential cancer risk of radiation exposure several studies to reduce the effective dose in urolithiasis have been published, and they reported an effective dose ranging from 0.7 to 2.8 mSv [17, 18]. Our study showed an average of 1.48 mSv for an effective dose in the LD protocol, similar to previous reports. Despite the low effective dose, a previous meta-analysis study of low-dose urolithiasis CT showed high sensitivity...

1Department of Radiology, Chung-Ang University Hospital, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, 102, Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, 156-755, Korea Ji In Choi, MD, Sung Bin Park, MD, Joonho Hur, MD, Jong Beum Lee, MD, Hyun Jeong Park, MD, Yang Soo Kim, MD

1. Youn JH, Kim SS, Yu JH, et al. (2012) Efficacy and safety of emergency ureteroscopic management of ureteral calculi. Korean J Urol 53:632-635 2. Preminger GM, Tiselius HG, Assimos DG, et al. (2007) 2007 guideline for the management of ureteral calculi. J Urol 178:2418-2434 3. Türk C, Knoll T, Petrik A, et al. (2010) Guidelines on Urolithiasis EAU Guidelines, edition presented at the 25th EAU Annual Congress, Barcelona 4. Huang WY, Chen YF, Chen SC, et al. (2012) Pediatric urolithiasis in Taiwan: a nationwide...