title: Radiation doses during chest examinations using dose modulation techniques in multislice CT scanner.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the radiation dose and image quality using a manual protocol and dose modulation techniques in a 6-slice CT scanner.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred and twenty-one patients who underwent contrast-enhanced CT of the chest were included in the study. For the manual protocol settings, constant tube potential (kV) and tube current-time product (mAs) of 140 kV and 120 mAs, respectively, were used. The angular and z-axis dose modulation techniques utilized a constant tube potential of 140 kV; mAs values were automatically selected by the machine. Effective doses were calculated using dose-length product (DLP) values and the image quality was assessed using the signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio values.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean effective doses using manual protocol for patients of weights 40-60 kg, 61-80 kg, and 81 kg and above were 8.58 mSv, 8.54 mSv, and 9.07 mSv, respectively. Mean effective doses using z-axis dose modulation for patients of weights 40-60 kg, 61-80 kg, and 81 kg and above were 4.95 mSv, 6.87 mSv, and 10.24 mSv, respectively. The SNR at the region of the liver for patients of body weight of 40-60 kg was 5.1 H, 6.2 H, and 8.8 H for manual, angular, and z-axis dose modulation, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Dose reduction of up to 15% was achieved using angular dose modulation and of up to 42% using z-axis dose modulation, with acceptable diagnostic image quality compared to the manual protocol.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Christian Medical College, Vellore - 632 004, TN, India.
authors.forename: Roshan S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Livingstone
authors.forename: Joe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pradip
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Dinakran
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Srikanth