Joint application of hybrid iterative reconstruction and adaptive filters on neck‐and‐shoulder CT imaging: A clinical evaluation

PURPOSE: To assess whether the joint application of hybrid iterative reconstruction (HIR) and an adaptive filter (AF) could reduce streak artifacts and improve image quality of neck‐and‐shoulder computed tomography (CT). METHODS: This study included 96 patients with suspicious neck lesions who underwent a routine nonenhanced scan on a 64‐slice CT scanner. The raw data were reconstructed using four different settings: filtered back projection (FBP), HIR, FBP + AF, and HIR + AF. Regions of interest were manually drawn in erector spine, axillary fat, latissimus dorsi, and dorsal cervical fat. Mean and standard deviation (SD) of the CT number, signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR), and contrast‐to‐noise ratio (CNR) were obtained and compared using Wilcoxon signed‐rank tests. The qualitative assessments of five factors were compared by two independent investigators. RESULTS: Compared to the other three settings, HIR + AF reduced noise in the area where the streak artifact of the lower neck were most serious (SD; all p ≤ 0.001). The SNR and CNR were improved significantly (all p ≤ 0.001). Compared to the other three settings, HIR + AF showed a significant improvement in CT image quality regarding the visibility of suspicious lesions, the extent of streaking artifacts, noise, soft‐tissue contrast, and visualization of small structures (all p ≤ 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: The combination of HIR and AF can significantly reduce streaking artifacts and improve image quality in neck‐and‐shoulder CT imaging.