Background/introduction
Compared with whole-body X-ray, WBLDCT has shown a higher sensitivity and diagnostic capacity for detection of osteolitic lesions in multiple myeloma.
The aim of this study is to estimate the effective dose associated with WBLDCT, while preserving a diagnostic image quality, and to compare it with those reported in literature for the same procedure and with the dose of conventional X-ray examination.
Description of activity and work performed
Radiation exposure and both objective and subjective image quality were retrospectively evaluated for 30 patients who underwent WBLDCT.
CT scans were performed on a 256-slice CT scan.
The effective dose was estimated by Virtual Dose CT using data extracted from Physico Emme Esse software (as shown in Fig.2).
Patient effective dose due to WBLDCT was then compared with effective dose of 30 conventional X-ray examinations (Philips Digital Diagnost DR) which were calculated by Monte Carlo PCXMC program (as shown in Fig.3).
Objective image quality was...
Conclusion and recommendations
Our study demonstrated that WBLDCT can be performed with
an effective dose slightly higher than the one used in conventional X-ray
examination while maintaining a high diagnostic image quality. It means that,
with new generation scanners, it is possible to achieve a further dose
reduction in WBLDCT that has to be investigated in future studies with
purpose of protocol optimization.
Personal/organisational information
M. FranchiRadiology resident atAzienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Città della Salute e della Scienza Turin/IT
References
Image Quality in Low-dose Multidetector Computed Tomography: A Pilot Study to Assess Feasibility and Dose Optimization in Whole-body Bone Imaging.
Tadhg G.Gleeson FFRRCSI, MRCPI, LRSI, BCh, BAO (NUI, Brenda Byrne BSc, MSc, Pat Kenny PhD, BSc, MSc, Jason Last MD, PhD Patricia Fitzpatrick MD, MRCPI, PhD Peter O'Gorman MD, MRCPI, Steven J.Eustace MD, FFRRCSI, PhD, MRCPI.
International Myeloma Working Group updated criteria for the diagnosis of multiple myeloma.
Prof S Vincent Rajkumar, MD, Prof Meletios A Dimopoulos, MD Prof Antonio Palumbo, MDJoan Blade, Md Giampaolo...