TY - JOUR T1 - Radiation Dose Reduction in CT-Guided Spine Biopsies Does Not Reduce Diagnostic Yield JF - American Journal of Neuroradiology JO - Am. J. Neuroradiol. SP - 2243 LP - 2247 DO - 10.3174/ajnr.A4053 VL - 35 IS - 12 AU - K.A. Shpilberg AU - B.N. Delman AU - L.N. Tanenbaum AU - S.J. Esses AU - R. Subramaniam AU - A.H. Doshi Y1 - 2014/12/01 UR - http://www.ajnr.org/content/35/12/2243.abstract N2 - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: CT-guided biopsy is the most commonly used method to obtain tissue for diagnosis in suspected cases of malignancy involving the spine. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that a low-dose CT-guided spine biopsy protocol is as effective in tissue sampling as a regular-dose protocol, without adversely affecting procedural time or complication rates. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all patients who underwent CT-guided spine procedures at our institution between May 2010 and October 2013. Biopsy duration, total number of scans, total volume CT dose index, total dose-length product, and diagnostic tissue yield of low-dose and regular-dose groups were compared. RESULTS: Sixty-four patients were included, of whom 31 underwent low-dose and 33 regular-dose spine biopsies. There was a statistically significant difference in total volume CT dose index and total dose-length product between the low-dose and regular-dose groups (P < .0001). There was no significant difference in the total number of scans obtained (P = .3385), duration of procedure (P = .149), or diagnostic tissue yield (P = .6017). CONCLUSIONS: Use of a low-dose CT-guided spine biopsy protocol is a practical alternative to regular-dose approaches, maintaining overall quality and efficiency at reduced ionizing radiation dose. CTDIvolvolume CT dose indexDLPdose-length productkVppeak kilovoltagemGymilligray ER -