Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar 4;19(1):1559325820985660.
doi: 10.1177/1559325820985660. eCollection 2021 Jan-Mar.

A Preliminary Study of Personalized Head CT Scan in Pediatric Patients

Bian Bingyang  1 , Wang Gang  2 , Shao Zhiqing  1 , Nan Li  1 , BoXu Zhou  1 , ShuJia Xu  1 , Dan Li  1
Affiliations

A Preliminary Study of Personalized Head CT Scan in Pediatric Patients

Bian Bingyang et al. Dose Response. .

Abstract

Objectives: In the present study, we introduced a practical approach to quantify organ-specific radiation doses and investigated whether low-dose head circumference (HC)-based protocols for non-enhanced head computed tomography (CT) could reduce organs-specific radiation dose in pediatric patients while maintaining high image quality.

Methods: A total of 83 pediatric patients were prospectively recruited. Without limits to the HC, 15 patients were selected as a convention group (CON group) and underwent non-enhanced head CT scan with standard-dose protocols (tube current-time products of 250mAs). Low-dose group (LD group), including remaining 68 pediatrics were divided into 3 subgroups based on the HC: 54.1-57.0 cm for LD200mAs group (HC-based protocols of 200mAs), 51.1-54.0 cm for LD150mAs group (HC-based protocols of 150mAs), 48.1-51.0 cm for LD100mAs group (HC-based protocols of 100mAs). Subjective and objective image quality was evaluated and measured by 2 experienced radiologists. Radimetrics was used to calculate organs-specific radiation dose, including the brain, eye lenses, and salivary glands.

Results: In CON250mAs group, radiation doses in the brain and salivary glands were conversely correlated with HC, and pediatric patients with smaller HC received higher organs-specific radiation dose. Reducing tube current-time product from 250 to 100mAs could significantly reduce the organ-specific radiation dose. The subjective image quality score ≥ 3.0 is acceptable for diagnosis purposes. The signal to noise ratio (SNR) and the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) of bilateral thalamus and centrum semiovale in 3 LD subgroups were not statistically different compared with the CON group.

Conclusion: Our research indicated that low-dose HC-based protocols of non-enhanced head CT scan can evidently reduce the organ-specific radiation doses, while maintaining high image quality. HC can serve as a vital tool to guide personalized low-dose head CT scan for pediatric patients.

Keywords: Monte Carlo simulation; head circumference; low-dose; non-enhanced head computed tomography; pediatric; radiation dose of organs-specific; standard-dose.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Sites of ROIs for analysis of image quality. An example of uncontrast head CT image with standard-dose protocols (250mAs). ROIs included the right thalamus (ROI1) and light thalamus (ROI2); right centrum semiovale (ROI3) and light centrum semiovale (ROI4). ROI, regions of interest. CT, computed tomography.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Radiation dose as a function of head circumference (HC) for organs-specific in convention group with standard-dose protocols (250mAs). (A) Brain, (B) eye lenses, and (C) salivary glands.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
(A) The bar graph compares subjective unenhanced head CT image quality score under standarddose protocols (250mAs) and low-dose HC-based protocols (200, 150, 100mAs). (B) The representative images acquired from an unenhanced head CT scan with different mAs. HC, head circumference. CT, computed tomography.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
The bar graph compares 3 organs-specific radiation dose under standard-dose protocols (250mAs) and low-dose HC-based protocols (200, 150, 100mAs). (A) Brain, (B) eye lenses, and (C) salivary glands. CT, computed tomography.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Sodickson A, Baeyens PF, Andriole KP, Kong CY, Barnes JA, Pandharipande PV. Recurrent CT, cumulative radiation exposure, and associated radiation-induced cancer risks from CT of adults. Radiology. 2009;251(1):175–184. - PubMed
    1. Costello JE, Cecava ND, Tucker JE, Bau JL. CT radiation dose: current controversies and dose reduction strategies. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2013;201(6):1283–1290. - PubMed
    1. Coakley FV, Gould R, Yeh BM, Arenson RL. CT radiation dose: what can you do right now in your practice? AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2011;196(3):619–625. - PubMed
    1. Brenner DJ, Hall EJ. Computed tomography—an increasing source of radiation exposure. N Engl J Med. 2007;357(22):2277–2284. - PubMed
    1. Paolicchi F, Faggioni L, Bastiani L, et al. Optimizing the balance between radiation dose and image quality in pediatric head CT: findings before and after intensive radiologic staff training. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2014;202(6):1309–1315. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources