The use of bismuth breast shields together with a lower kVp and automatic tube current modulation will reduce the absorbed radiation dose to the breast and lungs without degradation of image quality to the organs of the thorax for CTA detection of PE.
Organ-based dose modulation CT using an anterior 120° arc can reduce the organ dose in the anterior aspect of the thorax with a compensatory organ dose increase posteriorly without impairment of image quality. Laterally located breast tissue will have higher organ doses than medially located breast tissue when using organ-based dose modulation. The benefit of this dose reduction must be clinically determined on the basis of the relationship of the irradiated organs to the location of the prescribed radial arc used in organ-based dose modulation.
Dose savings can be achieved for chest, abdomen/pelvis and chest/abdomen/pelvis examinations on 320-detector CT compared to helical acquisition on 64-detector CT, with shorter scan durations. Although noise differences between some modes reached statistical significance, this is of doubtful diagnostic significance and will be studied further in a clinical setting.
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