Cerebral computed tomography angiography using a 70 kVp protocol: improved vascular enhancement with a reduced volume of contrast medium and radiation dose

Abstract

• Cerebral CT angiography at 70-kVp substantially improved vascular enhancement • Subjective image quality was better at 70-kVp, with lower radiation dose • The volume of contrast media can be substantially reduced at 70-kVp.

CT brain perfusion: A static phantom study of contrast‐to‐noise ratio and radiation dose

“…Similar changes in dose for the same CNR (horizontal displacements in Fig. 4) are reported in recent clinical and phantombased studies 10,11 for the CT angiography protocol. Clinical CTP using the same mAs for reduced kVp, 13 is represented in Figure 4 as the diagonal shifts between kVp curves to reduced dose and CNR.…”

“…Recent clinical studies have examined the influence on image quality and radiation dose offered by 70 kVp over higher energy spectra. Qualitative measures of image quality for brain angiography 10,11 for 70 kVp over 120 kVp, found increased noise, increased CT numbers expressed in Housfield Units (HU), with similar image quality and significant dose saving (85% less). Comparison between 80 kVp with iterative reconstruction against 70 kVp with filtered backprojection (FBP) and different mAs for CTP achieved similar image quality at less dose and no significant differences in parametric maps.…”

CT pulmonary angiography: simultaneous low-pitch dual-source acquisition mode with 70 kVp and 40 ml of contrast medium and comparison with high-pitch spiral dual-source acquisition with automated tube potential selection

“…for CTA, 6,11,18,21 chest CT, 22 paediatric CT 23 and cranial CT. 24 These studies also showed feasibility, diagnostic image quality and a potential for reduction of radiation dose and CM. Up to date, only two studies have reported the results for dual-source 70-kVp CTPA.…”

High prevalence of intracranial aneurysms in patients with aortic dissection or aneurysm: feasibility of extended aorta CT angiography with involvement of intracranial arteries

“…On the axial images, the vascular attenuation (in Hounsfield units) of the internal carotid artery at the level of distal bifurcation and the image noise were measured by a board-certified radiologist (E-SC) with the same method as in the previous study 10. The contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) was then calculated using the following formula:11 CNR=(mean arterial attenuation value−mean brain parenchyma attenuation value)/image noise.…”