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Moloney F, Twomey M, James K, Kavanagh RG, Fama D, O'Neill S, Grey TM, Moore N, Murphy MJ, O'Connor OJ, Maher MM. A phantom study of the performance of model-based iterative reconstruction in low-dose chest and abdominal CT: When are benefits maximized? Radiography (Lond) 2019; 24:345-351. [PMID: 30292504 DOI: 10.1016/j.radi.2018.04.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2018] [Revised: 03/26/2018] [Accepted: 04/23/2018] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to assess and compare the effects of CT image reconstruction techniques on low-dose CT image quality using phantoms. METHODS Anthropomorphic torso and spatial/contrast-resolution phantoms were scanned at decreasing tube currents between 400 and 10 mA. CT thorax and abdomen/pelvis series were reconstructed with filtered back projection (FBP) alone, combined 40% adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction & FBP (ASIR40), and model-based iterative reconstruction (MBIR) [(resolution-preference 05 (RP05) and RP20 in the thorax and RP05 and noise-reduction 05 (NR05) in the abdomen)]. Two readers rated image quality quantitatively and qualitatively. RESULTS In thoracic CT, objective image noise on MBIR RP05 data sets outperformed FBP at 200, 100, 50 and 10 mA and outperformed ASIR40 at 50 and 10 mA (p < 0.001). MBIR RP20 outperformed FBP at 50 and 10 mA and outperformed ASIR40 at 10 mA (p < 0.001). Compared with both FBP and ASIR40, MBIR RP05 demonstrated significantly better signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at 10 mA. In abdomino-pelvic CT, MBIR RP05 and NR05 outperformed FBP and ASIR at all tube current levels for objective image noise. NR05 demonstrated greater SNR at 200, 100, 50 and 10 mA and RP05 demonstrated greater SNR at 50 and 10 mA compared with both FBP and ASIR. MBIR images demonstrated better subjective image quality scores. Spatial resolution, low-contrast detectability and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were comparable between image reconstruction techniques. CONCLUSION CTs reconstructed with MBIR have lower image noise and improved image quality compared with FBP and ASIR. These effects increase with reduced radiation exposure confirming optimal use for low-dose CT imaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Moloney
- Department of Radiology, Cork University Hospital, Cork, Ireland; College of Medicine & Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - M Twomey
- Department of Radiology, Cork University Hospital, Cork, Ireland; College of Medicine & Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - K James
- Department of Radiology, Cork University Hospital, Cork, Ireland; College of Medicine & Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - R G Kavanagh
- Department of Radiology, Cork University Hospital, Cork, Ireland; College of Medicine & Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
| | - D Fama
- Department of Radiology, Cork University Hospital, Cork, Ireland
| | - S O'Neill
- Department of Radiology, Cork University Hospital, Cork, Ireland; College of Medicine & Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - T M Grey
- Department of Radiology, Cork University Hospital, Cork, Ireland
| | - N Moore
- Department of Radiology, Cork University Hospital, Cork, Ireland; College of Medicine & Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - M J Murphy
- Department of Radiology, Cork University Hospital, Cork, Ireland
| | - O J O'Connor
- Department of Radiology, Cork University Hospital, Cork, Ireland; College of Medicine & Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - M M Maher
- Department of Radiology, Cork University Hospital, Cork, Ireland; College of Medicine & Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
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