title: The use of adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASiR) technique in evaluation of patients with cervical spine trauma: impact on radiation dose reduction and image quality.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASiR) technique on the image quality and radiation dose reduction. The comparison was made with the traditional filtered back projection (FBP) technique.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed 78 patients, who underwent cervical spine CT for blunt cervical trauma between 1 June 2010 and 30 November 2010. 48 patients were imaged using traditional FBP technique and the remaining 30 patients were imaged using the ASiR technique. The patient demographics, radiation dose, objective image signal and noise were recorded; while subjective noise, sharpness, diagnostic acceptability and artefacts were graded by two radiologists blinded to the techniques.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that the ASiR technique was able to reduce the volume CT dose index, dose-length product and effective dose by 36%, 36.5% and 36.5%, respectively, compared with the FBP technique. There was no significant difference in the image noise (p = 0.39), signal (p = 0.82) and signal-to-noise ratio (p = 0.56) between the groups. The subjective image quality was minimally better in the ASiR group but not statistically significant. There was excellent interobserver agreement on the subjective image quality and diagnostic acceptability for both groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of ASiR technique allowed approximately 36% radiation dose reduction in the evaluation of cervical spine without degrading the image quality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study highlights that the ASiR technique is extremely helpful in reducing the patient radiation exposure while maintaining the image quality. It is highly recommended to utilize this novel technique in CT imaging of different body regions.
authors.affiliation: 1 Neuroradiology, The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Satya N
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0598-9941
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Patro
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Medical Imaging, The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Santanu
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2975-2260
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chakraborty
authors.affiliation: 3 The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Adnan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sheikh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000293:injuries*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D016103:Spinal Fractures / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult