Assessment of image quality and establishment of local acceptable quality dose for computed tomography based on patient effective diameter.

PURPOSE

We aim to develop modified clinical indication (CI)-based image quality scoring criteria (IQSC) for assessing image quality (IQ) and establishing acceptable quality doses (AQDs) in adult computed tomography (CT) examinations, based on CIs and patient sizes.

APPROACH

CT images, volume CT dose index ( ), and dose length product (DLP) were collected retrospectively between September 2020 and September 2021 for eight common CIs from two CT scanners at a central hospital in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Using the modified CI-based IQSC and a Likert scale (0 to 4), three radiologists assessed the IQ of each examination. AQDs were then established as the median value of and DLP for images with an average score of 3 and compared to national diagnostic reference levels (NDRLs).

RESULTS

Out of 581 examinations, 60 were excluded from the study due to average scores above or below 3. The established AQDs were lower than the NDRLs for all CIs, except for oncologic follow-up for large patients (28 versus 26 mGy) in scanner A, besides abdominal pain for medium patients (16 versus 15 mGy) and large patients (34 versus 27 mGy), and diverticulitis/appendicitis for medium patients (15 versus 12 mGy) and large patients (33 versus 30 mGy) in scanner B, indicating the need for optimization.

CONCLUSIONS

CI-based IQSC is crucial for IQ assessment and establishing AQDs according to patient size. It identifies stations requiring optimization of patient radiation exposure.