Optimization of computed tomography urography protocol, 1997 to 2008: Effects on radiation dose

Abstract

This study shows that the individual mean effective dose to patients undergoing CT urography has decreased by 60%, from 29.9/22.5 (F/M) mSv in 1997 to 11.7/8.8 (F/M) mSv in 2008.

Optimization of Split-Bolus CT Urography: Effect of Differences in Allocation of Contrast Medium and Prolongation of Imaging Delay

“…CTU provides a comprehensive evaluation with high sensitivity and specificity for diseases of the renal collecting system, ureters, and bladder [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Many institutions are advocating split-bolus CTU for the evaluation of patients with hematuria and urinary tract diseases because of its lower radiation dose compared with single-bolus three-phase imaging [5, 10-14, 16, 19-23, 25-28], especially in patients younger than 40 years [10][11][12]16].…”

How Much Dose Can Be Saved in Three-Phase CT Urography? A Combination of Normal-Dose Corticomedullary Phase With Low-Dose Unenhanced and Excretory Phases

“…It differs from that used at most centers, where the nephrographic phase is used instead of the corticomedullary phase [3]. Our decision to perform a corticomedullary phase acquisition was based on earlier research focusing on renal cell carcinoma [9][10][11]. When focus in recent years turned to urothelial cell carcinoma, the corticomedullary phase proved useful in detecting urothelial cell carcinoma in the upper urinary tract and bladder.…”

CT Urography for Diagnosis of Upper Urinary Tract Urothelial Carcinoma: Are Both Nephrographic and Excretory Phases Necessary?

“…A higher radiation exposure is one of the major issues of CTU especially in the single-bolus CTU protocol [3,5,6], but several new imaging techniques have emerged to reduce the radiation dose of CTU [7][8][9].…”