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Image Quality Monitoring: Variability in Contrast Enhancement Across a Clinical Population

Publication ,  Conference
Smith, T; Abadi, E; Ding, A; Ria, F; samei, E
Published in: Medical Physics
June 30, 2017

Purpose: Iodinated contrast agents are commonly used in computed tomography (CT) to delineate vasculature and blood perfusion by enhancement of Hounsfield unit values. Contrast-enhancement is affected by anatomical and physiological factors, and varies across patients. The purpose of this study was to quantify the variability of the contrast-enhancement amongst patients within a clinical operation and investigate trends of this enhancement as a function of patient size and age. Methods: Using an IRB-approved protocol, an algorithm was developed and applied to automatically assess Hounsfield unit (HU) value enhancement from the aorta of 600 patients (200 contrast enhanced with 150 mL of Isovue-300 contrast medium, 400 non-contrast enhanced, 400 chest and 200 abdominal/pelvic). The results were analyzed in terms of the standard deviation of the mean aortic HU values across the population (for both contrast-enhanced and non-contrast enhanced cohorts) and the relationships between mean aortic HU values and patient factors (size and age). Results: The HU values of the aorta exhibited a seven-fold enhancement in magnitude in contrast-enhanced exams, as expected. More remarkably, they also exhibited five times more variability in the aortic HU values compared to non-contrast-enhanced cohort (25.1 11.0 for non-contrast and 177.2 60.0 for contrast-enhanced scans). There was no statistically significant trend between aortic HU values and age with either exam type (p > 0.2). The mean HU values in contrast-enhanced exams, however, showed a decreasing trend with patient size in (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Mean HU values of the aorta were found to be more variable in contrast enhanced examinations. Size also exhibits a strong influence. Considering that the applied protocol used a fixed amount of administrated contrast agent irrespective of patient size, this presents a potential to right-size the amount of administered contrast as a function of patient size.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Medical Physics

ISSN

0094-2405

Publication Date

June 30, 2017

Volume

6

Issue

44

Start / End Page

3167 / 3168

Location

Denver (CO)

Publisher

American Association of Physicists in Medicine

Conference Name

The American Association of Physicists in Medicine annual meeting

Related Subject Headings

  • Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
  • 5105 Medical and biological physics
  • 4003 Biomedical engineering
  • 1112 Oncology and Carcinogenesis
  • 0903 Biomedical Engineering
  • 0299 Other Physical Sciences
 

Citation

APA
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ICMJE
MLA
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Smith, T., Abadi, E., Ding, A., Ria, F., & samei, E. (2017). Image Quality Monitoring: Variability in Contrast Enhancement Across a Clinical Population. In Medical Physics (Vol. 6, pp. 3167–3168). Denver (CO): American Association of Physicists in Medicine.
Smith, T., E. Abadi, A. Ding, F. Ria, and E. samei. “Image Quality Monitoring: Variability in Contrast Enhancement Across a Clinical Population.” In Medical Physics, 6:3167–68. American Association of Physicists in Medicine, 2017.
Smith T, Abadi E, Ding A, Ria F, samei E. Image Quality Monitoring: Variability in Contrast Enhancement Across a Clinical Population. In: Medical Physics. American Association of Physicists in Medicine; 2017. p. 3167–8.
Smith, T., et al. “Image Quality Monitoring: Variability in Contrast Enhancement Across a Clinical Population.” Medical Physics, vol. 6, no. 44, American Association of Physicists in Medicine, 2017, pp. 3167–68.
Smith T, Abadi E, Ding A, Ria F, samei E. Image Quality Monitoring: Variability in Contrast Enhancement Across a Clinical Population. Medical Physics. American Association of Physicists in Medicine; 2017. p. 3167–3168.

Published In

Medical Physics

ISSN

0094-2405

Publication Date

June 30, 2017

Volume

6

Issue

44

Start / End Page

3167 / 3168

Location

Denver (CO)

Publisher

American Association of Physicists in Medicine

Conference Name

The American Association of Physicists in Medicine annual meeting

Related Subject Headings

  • Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
  • 5105 Medical and biological physics
  • 4003 Biomedical engineering
  • 1112 Oncology and Carcinogenesis
  • 0903 Biomedical Engineering
  • 0299 Other Physical Sciences