Open AccessOptimization of head computed tomography scan in a tertiary institution in Edo State, South-South Nigeria
Author(s) -
Chikezie Chukwuemeka Udo,
Akintayo Daniel Omojola,
Christian Chukwuemeka Nzotta
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
medical science and discovery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2148-6832
DOI - 10.36472/msd.v8i4.521
Subject(s) - medicine , computed tomography , nuclear medicine , scanner , imaging phantom , image quality , protocol (science) , radiation dose , radiology , artificial intelligence , alternative medicine , pathology , computer science , image (mathematics)
Objective: The study is aimed at optimizing the existing CT protocol for head scans in a Specialist Teaching Hospital in Edo State with a 16-slice Siemens Somatom Emotion scanner. Also, the study determined the volume computed tomography dose index (CTDIvol) and Dose Length Product (DLP) from the patient's dose profiles. The results from this study were compared with relevant studies.
Materials and Methods: The scanner was used to acquire head CT of 160 patients retrospectively. Also, a locally designed head phantom was used to simulate individual patients using a similar protocol by changing the tube current (mA) and total scan width (TSW) only from the existing protocol.
Results: Percentage dose reduction (PDR) for the CTDIvol and DLP ranged 42.00-46.80% and 37.13-43.54% respectively. The optimized CTDIvol and DLP were lowest compared to studies in the United Kingdom (UK), Italy, India, Ireland, Sudan, Nigeria, European Commission (EC), United States of America (USA) and Japan. Only the DLP for India was lower than our optimized value.
Conclusion: The need to understudy CT configuration is necessary, this will allow end-users to optimize certain parameters in the CT scanner, which will reduce the patient dose without compromising image quality