Study on low tube voltage scan and SAFIRE reconstruction in the chest of domestic dogs / 实用医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the value of low tube voltage with sinogram affirmed iterative reconstruction (SAFIRE) through comparing the image quality of regular dose scanning with filtered back projection (FBP) reconstruction and low-dose scanning with SAFIRE. Methods Eleven healthy adult domestic dogs were scanned with different doses. The regular dose of 120 kV/65 mA in combination with FBP reconstruction was set as the normal control group, and 100 kV/65 mA plus SAFIRE reconstruction was used as the low kV group. The CT dose index (CTDI), dose length product (DLP), and the effective dose (ED) at different doses were compared, and the average CT value, noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and the image quality score of two groups of images were also analyzed. Results ED in the low kV groups was reduced by 39.33%compared to that in the normal control group. No significant differences were found in the average CT value of the same tissue among these two groups (P > 0.05). Compared with the normal control group, image noise of the lung tissue, superior vena cava and spinal muscle of low kV group were consistently decreased, SNR was in also creased, while the noise ratio contrast between superior vena cava and fat was increased. The image quality score of the low kV group was increased by 1.70%compared to that of the normal control group. Conclusion The low kV scan with SAFIRE technology can decrease the radiation dose and improve image quality in chest CT examination of domestic dogs, with a potential value in the clinical promotion and the application.