IMAGE QUALITY AND POTENTIAL DOSE REDUCTION USING ADVANCED MODELED ITERATIVE RECONSTRUCTION (ADMIRE) IN ABDOMINAL CT - A REVIEW

Abstract

Traditional filtered back projection (FBP) reconstruction methods have served the computed tomography (CT) community well for over 40 years. With the increased use of CT during the last decades, efforts to minimise patient exposure, while maintaining sufficient or improved image quality, have led to the development of model-based iterative reconstruction (MBIR) algorithms from several vendors. The usefulness of the advanced modeled iterative reconstruction (ADMIRE) (Siemens Healthineers) MBIR in abdominal CT is reviewed and its noise suppression and/or dose reduction possibilities explored. Quantitative and qualitative methods with phantom and human subjects were used. Assessment of the quality of phantom images will not always correlate positively with those of patient images, particularly at the higher strength of the ADMIRE algorithm. With few exceptions, ADMIRE Strength 3 typically allows for substantial noise reduction compared to FBP and hence to significant (≈30%) patient dose reductions. The size of the dose reductions depends on the diagnostic task.

Figure 1

Basic principles of ADMIRE according to Ramirez-Giraldo et al., White Paper, ADMIRE advanced modeled iterative reconstruction⁽⁷⁾. Reproduced and altered/adapted with permission from Siemens Healthineers.

Figure 2

Examples of image quality comparisons in full-dose abdominal CT (quality reference (Qref) 140 mAs) from a study patient⁽¹⁰⁾, reconstructed with FBP and ADMIRE (Siemens Healthineers) at Strengths 3 and 5, out of 5 available strengths.