TY  - JOUR
A1  - Luetkens, Karsten Sebastian
A1  - Grunz, Jan-Peter
A1  - Kunz, Andreas Steven
A1  - Huflage, Henner
A1  - Weißenberger, Manuel
A1  - Hartung, Viktor
A1  - Patzer, Theresa Sophie
A1  - Gruschwitz, Philipp
A1  - Ergün, Süleyman
A1  - Bley, Thorsten Alexander
A1  - Feldle, Philipp
T1  - Ultra-high-resolution photon-counting detector CT arthrography of the ankle: a feasibility study
JF  - Diagnostics
N2  - This study was designed to investigate the image quality of ultra-high-resolution ankle arthrography employing a photon-counting detector CT. Bilateral arthrograms were acquired in four cadaveric specimens with full-dose (10 mGy) and low-dose (3 mGy) scan protocols. Three convolution kernels with different spatial frequencies were utilized for image reconstruction (ρ\(_{50}\); Br98: 39.0, Br84: 22.6, Br76: 16.5 lp/cm). Seven radiologists subjectively assessed the image quality regarding the depiction of bone, hyaline cartilage, and ligaments. An additional quantitative assessment comprised the measurement of noise and the computation of contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR). While an optimal depiction of bone tissue was achieved with the ultra-sharp Br98 kernel (S ≤ 0.043), the visualization of cartilage improved with lower modulation transfer functions at each dose level (p ≤ 0.014). The interrater reliability ranged from good to excellent for all assessed tissues (intraclass correlation coefficient ≥ 0.805). The noise levels in subcutaneous fat decreased with reduced spatial frequency (p < 0.001). Notably, the low-dose Br76 matched the CNR of the full-dose Br84 (p  0.999) and superseded Br98 (p < 0.001) in all tissues. Based on the reported results, a photon-counting detector CT arthrography of the ankle with an ultra-high-resolution collimation offers stellar image quality and tissue assessability, improving the evaluation of miniscule anatomical structures. While bone depiction was superior in combination with an ultra-sharp convolution kernel, soft tissue evaluation benefited from employing a lower spatial frequency.
KW  - photon-counting CT
KW  - arthrography
KW  - ankle
KW  - cartilage
KW  - radiation dosage
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-362622
SN  - 2075-4418
VL  - 13
IS  - 13
ER  -