Aims and objectives
Computed tomography (CT) of the lumbar spine is a widely performed examination for patients suffering from back pain or trauma.
CT provides a fast and thorough assessment of the anatomy,
especially in cases where magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is not available.
In addition,
CT may be the modality of choice for examining intervertebral disc pathology in some countries due to state referral guidelines.
Patient safety and awareness of radiation exposure necessitates optimization of the radiation dose during a CT examination.
In recent years scanning techniques...
Methods and materials
Study design and patient selection
A retrospective study was performed of data collected from 120 patients that underwent a lumbar spine CT examination in two European centers of Affidea over a 10-month period.
The patients have been categorized in two groups of 60,
with the first group examinations from Evroiatriki Thessaloniki,
Greece and the second group examinations from Péterfy Sándor Hospital,
Budapest,
Hungary.
Mean age was 55,5 years,
male/female ratio 42/78 and mean BMI was 27,6.
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
The study included patients who...
Results
CT dose evaluation:
Table 3 Comparison of mean CT doses between Scanner A and B t-test assuming unequal variances
Parameters
GE LightSpeed VCT 64sl.
(A)n = 60
GE LightSpeed VCT 64sl.
(B)n = 60
p
CTDIvol (mGy)
23.7
20.1
0.13
DLP (mGy.cm)
309.1
473.4
0.01
Effective Dose (mSv)
4.6
7.1
0.00
Based on the results demonstrated in Table 3,
the was no significant difference in CTDIvol,
meaning that the radiation dose per slice is comparable between the incremental and spiral scanning modes.
Scanner B DLP...
Conclusion
Optimization of lumbar spine CT protocols for the investigation of disc pathology can significantly reduce radiation exposure to the patient.
It has been demonstrated that the incremental mode of acquisition can both reduce the exposure of patients and improve the visualization of anatomic components compared to spiral acquisition mode for this specific clinical investigation.
The use of advanced analytic software such as DoseWatchâ„¢ to monitor patient dose levels makes it possible to continuously optimize the CT acquisition methods,
resulting in equivalent diagnostic accuracy and reduced...
Personal information
On behalf of the autors I would like to express our appreciation to our Affidea IT staff and Biotronics 3Dnet support service to make it possible the anonymous data transfer between the participating centers.
I would like to thank Mr.
Lawrence Best,
Univercity College London for the contribution in the data analysis.
Many thanks to Dr.
Dimitrios Daravigkas for his contribution in the image assessment.
We are much obligated for the support and professional direction to Affidea's Chief Medical Officer Dr.
Rowland Illing DM MRCS...
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