Low-dose computed tomography of the lumbar spine: a phantom study on imaging parameters and image quality
(2014) In Acta Radiologica 55(7). p.824-832- Abstract
- Background: Lumbar spine radiography has limited diagnostic value but low radiation dose compared with computed tomography (CT). The average effective radiation dose from lumbar spine radiography is about 1.1 mSv. Low-dose lumbar spine CT may be an alternative to increase the diagnostic value at low radiation dose, around 1 mSv. Purpose: To determine the optimal settings for low-dose lumbar spine CT simultaneously aiming for the highest diagnostic image quality possible. Material and Methods: An ovine lower thoracic and lumbar spine phantom, with all soft tissues around the vertebrae preserved except the skin, was placed in a 20 L plastic container filled with water. The phantom was scanned repeatedly with various technical settings;... (More)
- Background: Lumbar spine radiography has limited diagnostic value but low radiation dose compared with computed tomography (CT). The average effective radiation dose from lumbar spine radiography is about 1.1 mSv. Low-dose lumbar spine CT may be an alternative to increase the diagnostic value at low radiation dose, around 1 mSv. Purpose: To determine the optimal settings for low-dose lumbar spine CT simultaneously aiming for the highest diagnostic image quality possible. Material and Methods: An ovine lower thoracic and lumbar spine phantom, with all soft tissues around the vertebrae preserved except the skin, was placed in a 20 L plastic container filled with water. The phantom was scanned repeatedly with various technical settings; different tube potential, reference mAs, and with different convolution filters. Five radiologists evaluated the image quality according to a modification of the European guidelines for multislice computed tomography (MSCT) quality criteria for lumbar spine CT 2004. In a visual comparison the different scans were also ranked subjectively according to perceived image quality. Image noise and contrast were measured. Results: A tube potential of 120 kV with reference mAs 30 and medium or medium smooth convolution filter gave the best image quality at a sub-millisievert dose level, i.e. with an effective dose comparable to that from lumbar spine radiography. Conclusion: Low-dose lumbar spine CT thus opens a possibility to substitute lumbar spine radiography with CT without obvious increase in radiation dose. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4803554
- author
- Alshamari, Muhammed ; Geijer, Mats LU ; Norrman, Eva and Geijer, Hakan
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- CT, conventional radiography, spine, structures, techniques
- in
- Acta Radiologica
- volume
- 55
- issue
- 7
- pages
- 824 - 832
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000342575300008
- scopus:84907878366
- pmid:24215904
- ISSN
- 1600-0455
- DOI
- 10.1177/0284185113509615
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 9c387b12-b96c-42b3-817e-2dcd3d2e2ce1 (old id 4803554)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:54:16
- date last changed
- 2022-02-04 18:01:46
@article{9c387b12-b96c-42b3-817e-2dcd3d2e2ce1,
abstract = {{Background: Lumbar spine radiography has limited diagnostic value but low radiation dose compared with computed tomography (CT). The average effective radiation dose from lumbar spine radiography is about 1.1 mSv. Low-dose lumbar spine CT may be an alternative to increase the diagnostic value at low radiation dose, around 1 mSv. Purpose: To determine the optimal settings for low-dose lumbar spine CT simultaneously aiming for the highest diagnostic image quality possible. Material and Methods: An ovine lower thoracic and lumbar spine phantom, with all soft tissues around the vertebrae preserved except the skin, was placed in a 20 L plastic container filled with water. The phantom was scanned repeatedly with various technical settings; different tube potential, reference mAs, and with different convolution filters. Five radiologists evaluated the image quality according to a modification of the European guidelines for multislice computed tomography (MSCT) quality criteria for lumbar spine CT 2004. In a visual comparison the different scans were also ranked subjectively according to perceived image quality. Image noise and contrast were measured. Results: A tube potential of 120 kV with reference mAs 30 and medium or medium smooth convolution filter gave the best image quality at a sub-millisievert dose level, i.e. with an effective dose comparable to that from lumbar spine radiography. Conclusion: Low-dose lumbar spine CT thus opens a possibility to substitute lumbar spine radiography with CT without obvious increase in radiation dose.}},
author = {{Alshamari, Muhammed and Geijer, Mats and Norrman, Eva and Geijer, Hakan}},
issn = {{1600-0455}},
keywords = {{CT; conventional radiography; spine; structures; techniques}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{7}},
pages = {{824--832}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Acta Radiologica}},
title = {{Low-dose computed tomography of the lumbar spine: a phantom study on imaging parameters and image quality}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/3658951/5366981.pdf}},
doi = {{10.1177/0284185113509615}},
volume = {{55}},
year = {{2014}},
}