Optimizing contrast-enhanced abdominal CT in infants and children using bolus tracking.

Abstract

George S. Bisset Ill OBJECTIVE. Manual administration of IV contrast material results in unpredictable injection rates. Our purpose was to determine the effect of bolus tracking on overall abdominal helical CT scan quality, particularly on hepatic enhancement, in children with manually administered contrast media. MATERIALS AND METHODS. We compared 33 abdominal helical CT scans of 29 children in whom bolus tracking was used with 22 CT scans of a control group of 2 1 children in whom bolus tracking was not used. All contrast material was administered by manual in

Effect of Scan Delay on Hepatic Enhancement for Pediatric Abdominal Multislice Helical CT

“…For the evaluation of hepatic enhancement, CT examinations were analyzed using a method previously described in greater detail [2]. Using an institutionally developed PACS (picture archiving and communication system), regions of interest of 1.0 cm were positioned in three peripheral locations in the liver at three levels.…”

“…The increasing speed of multislice CT has created new challenges for optimizing contrastenhanced scanning in infants and children [2,3]. It is unclear which of several reported scan delays, ranging from 3 to 29 sec [1][2][3][4][5], are appropriate for hepatic multislice scanning. Our objective was to determine an appropriate scan delay-the period between completion of contrast administration and scanning onset-in children for multislice helical CT.…”

Data acquisition for pediatric CT angiography: problems and solutions

“…In a recent investigation [15], the rate of manual contrast administration through either 22-or 24-gauge angiocatheters ranged from 0.3 to 3.5 ml/s (mean 1.2 ml/s) for 33 CT examinations in children less than 10 years of age. In nearly 70 % of these examinations, injection rates varied from just under 1.0 ml/s to 2.0 ml/s (D. P. Frush, unpublished data).…”

“…The injection rate in children is variable and is limited by IV gauge and manual injection [15]. Injection duration and scan duration should be coordinated to make maximal use of the administered contrast material.…”

“…Bolus tracking has been used for contrast-enhanced helical CT in children [13,15,23]. Our experience with both axial contrast-enhanced scanning and CTA is with SmartPrep (General Electric Medical Systems, Milwaukee, Wis.).…”