Otgonbaatar Chuluunbaatar, Ryu Jae-Kyun, Jung Won Beom, Jang Seon Woong, Hwang Sungjun, Kim Taehyung, Shim Hackjoon, Seo Jung Wook
Seoul National University, College of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Canon Medical Systems Korea, Medical Imaging AI Research Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
J Med Imaging (Bellingham). 2024 Nov;11(6):067001. doi: 10.1117/1.JMI.11.6.067001. Epub 2024 Dec 4.
We aimed to compare the efficacy of the double contrast enhancement (CE)-boost technique with that of conventional methods to improve vascular contrast attenuation in lower-extremity computed tomography (CT) angiography.
This retrospective study enrolled 45 patients (mean age, 70 years; range, 26 to 90 years; 30 males). To generate the CE-boost image, the degree of CE was determined by subtracting the post-contrast CT images from the pre-contrast CT images. The double CE-boost technique involves the application of this CE process twice. Both objective assessments (CT attenuation, noise level, signal-to-noise ratio [SNR], contrast-to-noise ratio [CNR], and image sharpness) and subjective quality evaluations were conducted on three types of images (conventional, CE-boost, and double CE-boost images).
Double CE-boost images demonstrated significantly reduced noise in Hounsfield units (HUs) compared with conventional and CE-boost images ( ). CT attenuation values (HUs) were substantially higher in all different locations of the lower extremity with double CE-boost images ( ), as opposed to conventional ( ) and CE-boost images ( ). The SNR and CNR were notably improved in the double CE-boost image compared with both conventional and CE-boost images. Image sharpness analysis of the popliteal artery ( ), anterior tibial artery ( ), and dorsalis pedis artery ( ) revealed consistency across conventional, CE-boost, and double CE-boost images. Subjective image analysis indicated superior ratings for the double CE-boost compared with other types.
The implementation of the double CE-boost technique improves image quality by decreasing image noise, increasing CT attenuation, and improving SNR, CNR, and subjective assessment compared with CE-boost and conventional imaging.
我们旨在比较双对比增强（CE）-增强技术与传统方法在改善下肢计算机断层扫描（CT）血管造影中血管对比剂衰减方面的疗效。
这项回顾性研究纳入了45例患者（平均年龄70岁；范围26至90岁；男性30例）。为了生成CE-增强图像，通过从对比前CT图像中减去对比后CT图像来确定CE程度。双CE-增强技术涉及将此CE过程应用两次。对三种类型的图像（传统图像、CE-增强图像和双CE-增强图像）进行了客观评估（CT衰减、噪声水平、信噪比[SNR]、对比噪声比[CNR]和图像清晰度）和主观质量评估。
与传统图像和CE-增强图像相比，双CE-增强图像在亨氏单位（HU）中的噪声明显降低（ ）。双CE-增强图像在下肢所有不同部位的CT衰减值（HU）显著更高（ ），而传统图像（ ）和CE-增强图像（ ）则相反。与传统图像和CE-增强图像相比，双CE-增强图像中的SNR和CNR显著提高。对腘动脉（ ）、胫前动脉（ ）和足背动脉（ ）的图像清晰度分析显示，传统图像、CE-增强图像和双CE-增强图像之间具有一致性。主观图像分析表明，与其他类型相比，双CE-增强图像的评分更高。
与CE-增强成像和传统成像相比，双CE-增强技术的实施通过降低图像噪声、增加CT衰减以及改善SNR、CNR和主观评估来提高图像质量。
