Dose and image quality of electron-beam CT compared with spiral CT.
OBJECTIVE
To examine dose and image quality of electron-beam CT (EBCT) with continuous volume scan versus spiral CT.


METHODS
An EBCT scanner was compared with a spiral CT (SCT) scanner. Three phantoms were used to measure low-contrast resolution, high-contrast resolution, slice width, and dose.


RESULTS
The EBCT scans showed 30% lower high-contrast resolution for most settings. The dose was comparable to that of spiral CT with 3 mm collimation and 76%/106% higher with EBCT for 1.5 mm/6 mm collimation. Low-contrast resolution was comparable to that of spiral CT using 3 mm collimation, slightly worse for 1.5 mm, and bad for 6 mm EBCT collimation (four times higher dose to reach comparable contrast-to-noise ratio).


CONCLUSIONS
Significant restrictions were found using EBCT with continuous volume scan. The authors found that 3 mm collimation can yield acceptable high-contrast resolution and good low-contrast resolution compared with spiral CT. The use of 6 mm or 1.5 mm collimation needs to be restricted to selected cases.
Weisser
G
G
Department of Clinical Radiology, University Hospital Mannheim, Faculty of Clinical Medicine Mannheim, University of Heidelberg Medical School, Germany.
Lehmann
K J
KJ
Scheck
R
R
Coppenrath
E
E
Georgi
M
M
D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*