ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the clinical value of low-dose scan with 1 6-slice spiral CT in follow-up of the adult patients with secondary active pulmonary tuberculosis.Methods 130 patients with secondary active pulmonary tuberculosis were enrolled CT scans in the study.Routine dose (120 mA)and the following low-dose (1 5-40 mA)scanning was used with the same tube voltage of 120Kv and other factors.Image quality,imaging characteristics of the lesions,CT dose index and dose length product of two scans were evaluated.Meanwhile,the effective dose,quantitative measurement and evaluation of differences were analyzed.Results Between the routine scan and low-dose one,no significant difference in image quality was found(P = 0.121 0).No significant differences were found between two scans in 7 imaging features including ground-glass appearance,tree-in-bud sign,consolidation, cavity,bronchiectasis,bronchial stenosis and intralesional calcification (P >0.05).The X-ray radiation dose was decreased signifi-cantly with low-dose CT.Conclusion Low-dose spiral CT shows more advances in detection of secondary active pulmonary tubercu-losis as good as the conventional doses CT,and is used in the follow-up of the pulmonary tuberculosis.