Study on the imaging quality of hepatic portal venography by using dual-energy fusion technique / 实用放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the value of linear blending and non-linear blending images of dual-energy CT in improving the image quality of portal venography.Methods 60 patients clinically confirmed as liver cirrhosis with portal hypertension and gastric fundus esophageal varices were enrolled in the study.The patients underwent dual-energy (Sn140/80 kVp) scans in the portal phase, and four groups with 80 kVp and 140 kVp were defined as group A (linear blending images with M=0.3), B (linear ones with M=1.0), C (non-linear ones with c=150 and w=200) and D [non-linear ones with c=(CThepatic portal+CThepatic parenchymal)/2 and w=(CThepatic portal-CThepatic parenchymal)/2, and the CThepatic portal and CThepatic parenchymal were measured on M=0.3 image].The in portal vein enhancements, image noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR),contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and CT value difference between portal vein and liver parenchyma among four groups were compared by one-way ANOVA analysis of variance test.VRT imaging quality among four groups were assessed by Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U test.Results In four groups, the SNR and CNR of portal vein,and the CT value difference between portal vein and liver parenchyma(14.36 HU±3.23 HU,9.78 HU±2.39 HU,107.66 HU±21.28 HU) of group D were the highest (F=34.94,68.10 and 162.43,all P<0.01),and VRT image quality score of group D(4.78±0.42) was the best when compared to others (all P<0.01).Conclusion Non-linear blending technique of group D can improve the image quality of CT portography, which may be used in clinical practice.