Radiology Unit, Candiolo Cancer Institute, FPO-IRCCS, 10060 Torino, Italy.
Independent Researcher, 1201 Geneva, Switzerland.
Tomography. 2022 Apr 2;8(2):999-1004. doi: 10.3390/tomography8020080.
Thoracic spine CTs are usually performed during free breathing and with a narrow field of view; this common practice systematically excludes the assessment of lungs and other extraspinal structures, even if these have been irradiated during the examination. At our institution we perform thoracic spine CT during breath hold with additional full FOV reconstructions; this allows us to also evaluate lungs and extraspinal pathologies in the same examination with no added costs or further radiation exposure. If this simple and costless technical change is routinely applied to thoracic spine CT many concomitant extraspinal pathologies can be ruled out, from neoplasms to pneumonia; the suggested modification also allows an early diagnosis and avoids recalling and re-irradiating the patient in case these findings are partially included in the study. This practice can be further useful during the current pandemic in order to screen any lung opacities suspicious for COVID-19.
我们在本院行屏气状态下的全胸椎 CT 检查，同时行全视野重建，这样可以在同一次检查中同时评估肺部和其他脊柱外病变，而无需增加费用或额外辐射。如果将这种简单且无额外花费的技术改变常规应用于全胸椎 CT 检查，可以排除许多同时存在的脊柱外病变，从肿瘤到肺炎；该方法还可以早期诊断，避免因部分病变包含在研究范围内而召回和再次照射患者。在当前的大流行期间，这种方法还可以用于筛查任何疑似 COVID-19 的肺部不透明病变。
