TY  - JOUR
A1  - Petritsch, Berhard
A1  - Kosmala, Aleksander
A1  - Weng, Andreas Max
A1  - Bley, Thorsten Alexander
T1  - Tin-filtered 100kV ultra-low-dose CT of the paranasal sinus: initial clinical results
JF  - PLoS ONE
N2  - Objectives
To investigate the feasibility, diagnostic image quality and radiation dose of 3\(^{rd}\) generation dual-source computed tomography (CT) using a tin-filtered 100 kV protocol in patients with suspected acute inflammatory sinus disease.

Methods
We retrospectively evaluated 109 consecutive patients who underwent CT (Siemens SOMATOM Force, Erlangen, Germany) of the paranasal sinus with a new tin-filtered scanprotocol (Sn100 kV; tube current 35 mAs) using iterative reconstruction. Two readers independently assessed subjective image quality using a five-point Likert scale (1 = excellent, 5 = non-diagnostic). Inter-observer agreement was calculated and expressed as percentage of agreement. Noise was determined for calculation of signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR). Effective radiation dose (ED) was calculated from the dose-length-product (DLP).

Results
All examinations showed diagnostic image quality regarding evaluation of inflammatory sinus disease. On average, subjective general image quality was rated moderate (= 3) with a percentage of agreement between the observers of 81%. The mean image noise was 14.3 HU. The calculated median SNR was 6.0 for intraorbital fat, and 3.6 for the vitreous body, respectively. The median DLP was 2.1 mGy*cm, resulting in a median ED of 0.012 mSv.

Conclusions
Taking the study limitations into account, ultra-low-dose tin-filtered CT of the paranasal sinus at a tube voltage of 100 kV utilizing an iterative reconstruction algorithm provides for reliable exclusion of suspected acute inflammatory sinus disease in 100% of the cases.
KW  - Computed axial tomography
KW  - Inflammatory diseases
KW  - Radiation exposure
KW  - Diagnostic medicine
KW  - Fats
KW  - Mastoid process
KW  - X-ray radiography
KW  - Soft tissues
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-204127
VL  - 14
IS  - 5
ER  -