title: A new low-dose CT examination compared with standard-dose CT in the diagnosis of acute sinusitis.
abstract: A low-dose CT of the paranasal sinuses was designed with few, thin sections, non-uniform intersection gaps, low milliampere settings and avoidance of direct radiation to the eye lens. The low-dose CT was prospectively compared with standard-dose CT in patients with suspicion of acute sinusitis. Forty-seven patients were examined with low-dose CT immediately after standard-dose CT. The effective dose and the lens dose were calculated and compared. Using standard-dose CT as a gold standard the sensitivity and specificity of low-dose CT was calculated for each sinus group. The effective dose and the lens dose of the low-dose CT were reduced to, respectively, 3 and 2% of the standard-dose CT. The diagnostic yield of the low-dose CT with regard to acute sinusitis was good with a high specificity (> or =96%) for all sinus groups. The sensitivity was also high (> or =95%) except for the frontal sinus where the sensitivity was 83%. Low-dose CT offers considerable dose reduction and should be the standard for imaging patients with suspected acute inflammatory paranasal disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Rikshospitalet, 0027 Oslo, Norway. trond.mogens.aalokken@rikshospitalet.no
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hagtvedt
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Aaløkken
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nøtthellen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kolbenstvedt
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010256:Paranasal Sinuses / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000008:administration & dosage; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012852:Sinusitis / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals