Keywords:
Abdomen, Gastrointestinal tract, Small bowel, CT, CT-Enterography, Technical aspects, Equipment, Diagnostic procedure, Kv imaging, Workforce, Outcomes
Authors:
A. Agostini, A. Borgheresi, M. Antonarelli, F. Cela, L. Ottaviani, F. Terilli, A. M. Pisani, A. Lorenzoni, A. Giovagnoni; Ancona/IT
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2019/C-3620
Aims and objectives
The role of CT Enterography (CTE) in patients with Crohn’s Disease (CD) has been well established: it is an accurate tool for the evaluation of disease extension and for detection of complications,
even in a subclinical stage,
thus changing the management of disease [1; 2].
The main concern about the utilization of CTE in this scenario is due to the relatively high radiation exposure in young population undergoing to repeated examinations [3].
The application of material decomposition algorithms for selective subtraction of iodine from Dual Energy CT (DECT) datasets provide the so-called Virtual-Non-Contrast (VNC) images; this is relevant for dose reduction [4].
Several studies have evaluated image quality and quantitative differences in attenuations between true-non-contrast images (TNC) at 120 kVp and VNC,
obtained with different DECT technologies and calculated from different post-contrastograhic phases [5-10].
These studies recorded variable differences in attenuation between VNC and 120 kVp TNC,
with significant values in some abdominal organs such as kidneys,
pancreas,
abdominal aorta or retroperitoneal fat [6; 7].
The differences depend also on the post-contrastographic phase the used for VNC reconstruction [5-10].
The aim of this study is to evaluate the image quality and differences in attenuation between 120 kVp TNC and VNC reconstructed from enterographic phases of CTE studies.