Background: While CT is widely used in medical practice, a substantial source of radiation exposure is associated with an increased lifetime risk of cancer. Therefore, concerns to dose reduction in CT examinations are increasing and an iterative reconstruction algorithm, which allow for dose reduction by compensating image noise in the image reconstruction, has been developed.
Purpose: To investigate the performance of low-dose abdominal CT using adaptive iterative dose reduction 3D (AIDR 3D) compared to routine-dose CT using filtered back projection (FBP).
Material and methods: Fifty-eight patients underwent both routine-dose CT scans using FBP and low-dose CT scans using AIDR 3D in the abdomen. The image noise levels, signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs) of the aorta, portal vein, liver, and pancreas were measured and compared in both scans. Visual evaluations were performed. The volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) was measured.
Results: Image noise levels on low-dose CT images using AIDR 3D were significantly lower than, or not significantly different from, routine-dose CT images using FBP in reviewing the data on the basis of all patients and the three BMI groups. SNRs and CNRs on low-dose CT images using AIDR 3D were significantly higher than, or not significantly different from, routine-dose CT images using FBP in reviewing the data on the basis of all patients and the three BMI groups. In visual evaluation of the images, there were no statistically significant differences between the scans in all organs independently of BMI. The average CTDIvol at routine-dose and low dose CT was 21.4 and 10.8 mGy, respectively.
Conclusion: Low-dose abdominal CT using AIDR 3D allows for approximately 50% reduction in radiation dose without a degradation of image quality compared to routine-dose CT using FBP independently of BMI.
Keywords: Computed tomography (CT); abdominal CT; dose reduction; image quality; iterative reconstruction.