J Korean Soc Radiol.  2022 May;83(3):669-679. 10.3348/jksr.2021.0003.

Feasibility of Pediatric Low-Dose Facial CT Reconstructed with Filtered Back Projection Using Adequate Kernels

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Radiology, Chungnam National University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea
  • 2Department of Radiology, Chungnam National University Hospital, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea
  • 3Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Kyungpook National University Chilgok Hospital, Daegu, Korea
  • 4Department of Radiology, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Purpose
To evaluate the feasibility of pediatric low-dose facial CT reconstructed with filtered back projection (FBP) using adequate kernels.
Materials and Methods
We retrospectively reviewed the clinical and imaging data of children aged < 10 years who underwent facial CT at our emergency department. The patients were divided into two groups: low-dose CT (LDCT; Group A, n = 73) with a fixed 80-kVp tube potential and automatic tube current modulation (ATCM) and standard-dose CT (SDCT; Group B, n = 40) with a fixed 120-kVp tube potential and ATCM. All images were reconstructed with FBP using bone and soft tissue kernels in Group A and only bone kernel in Group B. The groups were compared in terms of image noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). Two radiologists subjectively scored the overall image quality of bony and soft tissue structures. The CT dose index volume and dose-length product were recorded.
Results
Image noise was higher in Group A than in Group B in bone kernel images (p < 0.001). Group A using a soft tissue kernel showed the highest SNR and CNR for all soft tissue structures (all p < 0.001). In the qualitative analysis of bony structures, Group A scores were found to be similar to or higher than Group B scores on comparing bone kernel images. In the qualitative analysis of soft tissue structures, there was no significant difference between Group A using a soft tissue kernel and Group B using a bone kernel with a soft tissue window setting (p > 0.05). Group A showed a 76.9% reduction in radiation dose compared to Group B (3.2 ± 0.2 mGy vs. 81.9 ± 11.1 mGy; p < 0.001).
Conclusion
The addition of a soft tissue kernel image to conventional CT reconstructed with FBP enables the use of pediatric low-dose facial CT protocol while maintaining image quality.

Keyword

Dose Reduction; Face; Computed Tomography; X-Ray; Pediatrics; Image Reconstruction
Full Text Links
  • JKSR
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr