Determination of the Optimal Dose Reduction Level via Iterative Reconstruction Using 640-Slice Volume Chest CT in a Pig Model

AIM: To determine the optimal dose reduction level of iterative reconstruction technique for paediatric chest CT in pig models. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 27 infant pigs underwent 640-slice volume chest CT with 80kVp and different mAs. Automatic exposure control technique was used, and the index of noise was set to SD10 (Group A, routine dose), SD12.5, SD15, SD17.5, SD20 (Groups from B to E) to reduce dose respectively. Group A was reconstructed with filtered back projection (FBP), and Groups from B to E were reconstructed using iterative reconstruction (IR). Objective and subjective image quality (IQ) among groups were compared to determine an optimal radiation reduction level. RESULTS: The noise and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in Group D had no significant statistical difference from that in Group A (P = 1.0). The scores of subjective IQ in Group A were not significantly different from those in Group D (P>0.05). There were no obvious statistical differences in the objective and subjective index values among the subgroups (small, medium and large subgroups) of Group D. The effective dose (ED) of Group D was 58.9% lower than that of Group A (0.20±0.05mSv vs 0.48±0.10mSv, p <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In infant pig chest CT, using iterative reconstruction can provide diagnostic image quality; furthermore, it can reduce the dosage by 58.9%.