A pilot study using low-dose Spectral CT and ASIR (Adaptive Statistical Iterative Reconstruction) algorithm to diagnose solitary pulmonary nodules

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is the most common cancer which has the highest mortality rate. With the development of computed tomography (CT) techniques, the case detection rates of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN) has constantly increased and the diagnosis accuracy of SPN has remained a hot topic in clinical and imaging diagnosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the combination of low-dose spectral CT and ASIR (Adaptive Statistical Iterative Reconstruction) algorithm in the diagnosis of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN). METHODS: 62 patients with SPN (42 cases of benign SPN and 20 cases of malignant SPN, pathology confirmed) were scanned by spectral CT with a dual-phase contrast-enhanced method. The iodine and water concentration (IC and WC) of the lesion and the artery in the image that had the same density were measured by the GSI (Gemstone Spectral Imaging) software. The normalized iodine and water concentration (NIC and NWC) of the lesion and the normalized iodine and water concentration difference (ICD and WCD) between the arterial and venous phases (AP and VP) were also calculated. The spectral HU (Hounsfield Unit ) curve was divided into 3 sections based on the energy (40–70, 70–100 and 100–140 keV) and the slopes (λHU) in both phases were calculated. The IC(AP), IC(VP), WC(AP) and WC(VP), NIC and NWC, and the λHU in benign and malignant SPN were compared by independent sample t-test. RESULTS: The iodine related parameters (IC(AP), IC(VP), NIC(AP), NIC(VP), and the ICD) of malignant SPN were significantly higher than that of benign SPN (t = 3.310, 1.330, 2.388, 1.669 and 3.251, respectively, P <0.05). The 3 λHU values of venous phase in malignant SPN were higher than that of benign SPN (t = 3.803, 2.846 and 3.205, P <0.05). The difference of water related parameters (WC(AP), WC(VP), NWC(AP), NWC(VP) and WCD) between malignant and benign SPN were not significant (t = 0.666, 0.257, 0.104, 0.550 and 0.585, P >0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The iodine related parameters and the slope of spectral curve are useful markers to distinguish the benign from the malignant lung diseases, and its application is extremely feasible in clinical applications.