Department of Medical Imaging Technology, Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India, 576104.
Department of Radio diagnosis and Imaging, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India, 576104.
Clin Neuroradiol. 2024 Mar;34(1):229-239. doi: 10.1007/s00062-023-01361-4. Epub 2023 Nov 28.
Pediatric computed tomography (CT) head examination has also increased in recent years with the advancement in CT technology; however, children exposed to radiation at the youngest age are more vulnerable to the risks of radiation. The aim of the study is to evaluate radiation dose and image quality of low dose pediatric CT head protocol compared to standard dose pediatric CT head protocol.
This was a prospective study. Group 1 included 73 patients aged < 1 year and 70 patients in the 1-5 years age group and had undergone CT head examination using the standard dose protocol. Group 2 included 31 patients aged < 1 year and 40 patients in the 1-5 years age group and had undergone CT head examination using the low dose protocol. The radiation dose was measured and image quality was assessed quantitatively and qualitatively.
There was a significant difference in radiation dose between the standard and low dose protocols (p > 0.05) with lower radiation dose for low dose group. The qualitative analysis did not show a significant difference between the standard and low dose protocols. The gray-white matter differentiation (GWMD), attenuation, contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and figure of merit (FOM) were higher in the low dose protocol compared to the standard dose with a significant difference (p > 0.05).
The study concludes that a low dose protocol at 80 kV tube voltage/150 mAs tube current exposure time product/iterative reconstruction-iDose (level 3) for < 1 year age group and 100 kV/200m As/iDose (level 3) for 1-5 years age group provides ultra-low effective dose with diagnostically acceptable image quality for pediatric CT head examination compared with standard dose protocol.
随着 CT 技术的进步，近年来儿科 CT 头部检查也有所增加；然而，年龄最小的儿童暴露在辐射下更容易受到辐射风险的影响。本研究旨在评估低剂量儿科 CT 头部协议与标准剂量儿科 CT 头部协议相比的辐射剂量和图像质量。
这是一项前瞻性研究。第 1 组包括 73 名年龄<1 岁的患者和 70 名 1-5 岁的患者，使用标准剂量方案进行 CT 头部检查。第 2 组包括 31 名年龄<1 岁和 40 名 1-5 岁的患者，使用低剂量方案进行 CT 头部检查。测量辐射剂量并进行定量和定性的图像质量评估。
标准和低剂量方案之间的辐射剂量有显著差异（p>0.05），低剂量组的辐射剂量较低。定性分析显示标准和低剂量方案之间没有显著差异。与标准剂量相比，低剂量组的灰-白质分化（GWMD）、衰减、对比噪声比（CNR）和优值（FOM）更高，差异具有统计学意义（p>0.05）。
该研究得出结论，对于<1 岁年龄组，使用 80 kV 管电压/150 mAs 管电流曝光时间乘积/迭代重建-iDose（级别 3）和对于 1-5 岁年龄组，使用 100 kV/200 mA s/iDose（级别 3）的低剂量方案可提供超低有效剂量，与标准剂量方案相比，具有可诊断的图像质量。
