Evaluation of Low-Dose ۳D Skull CT Images in Craniosynostosis

Introduction: Computed Tomography (CT) is nowadays used widely to differentiate normal brain cranium sutures from abnormal ones in pediatric patients with the aim of early treatment. This study tried to develop a low-dose CT protocol with the acceptable image quality of skull bone in order to evaluate craniosynostosis.Material and Methods: In this study a cranium bone of human cadaver was scanned with standard and reduced dose protocols. Two radiologists verified the quality of skull bone images acquired from the protocol in which there had been ۶۰% dose reduction to scan pediatric patients. The quality of low dose protocol of three dimensional (۳D) CT images of skull bone of ۵۷ pediatric subjects suspected of craniosynostosis were compared with standard-dose skull CT images of ۴۴ patients of the same age range. Volume CT dose index (CTDIvol), dose-length product (DLP), and effective dose (ED) were used to evaluate CT dose protocols. The comparison was made by two sample t-test.Results: Mean and standard deviations of CTDIvol, DLP, and ED of standard and reduced doses were ۱۲.۴±۲.۷ mGy, ۱۹۱.۵±۵۴ mGy.cm, ۱.۹۴±۰.۵۸ mSv and ۵.۴±۰.۲ mGy, ۸۵±۹ mGy.cm, ۰.۷۷±۰.۱۷ mSv, respectively, which had statistically significant difference (α=۰.۰۵). The quality of skull bone views obtained from low-dose CT protocol were found to be as good as in standard dose. Conclusion: Standard-dose ۳D CT protocol of skull bone can be replaced by a ۶۰%-reduced-dose ۳D CT protocol with comparable image quality in pediatric patients suspected of craniosynostosis.

کلیدواژه ها:

X ، ray Computed Tomography Craniosynostoses Quality Control Radiation Protection