Objective: To determine whether CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) using low mA setting reconstructed with model-based iterative reconstruction (MBIR) is equivalent to routine CTPA reconstructed with filtered back projection (FBP).
Methods: This prospective study was approved by the institutional review board and patients provided written informed consent. Eighty-two patients were examined with a low mA MBIR-CTPA (100 kV, 20 mA) and 82 patients with a standard FBP-CTPA (100 kV, 250 mA). Region of interests were drawn in nine pulmonary vessels; signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were calculated. A five-point scale was used to subjectively evaluate the image quality of FBP-CTPA and low mA MBIR-CTPA.
Results: Compared to routine FBP-CTPA, low mA MBIR-CTPA showed no differences in the attenuation measured in nine pulmonary vessels, higher SNR (56 ± 19 vs 43 ± 20, p < 0.0001) and higher CNR (50 ± 17 vs 38 ± 18, p < 0.0001) despite a dose reduction of 93 % (p < 0.0001). The subjective image quality of low mA MBIR-CTPA was quoted as diagnostic in 98 % of the cases for patient with body mass index less than 30 kg/m(2).
Conclusion: Low mA MBIR-CTPA is equivalent to routine FBP-CTPA and allows a significant dose reduction while improving SNR and CNR in the pulmonary vessels, as compared with routine FBP-CTPA.
Key points: • Low mA MBIR-CTPA is equivalent to routine FBP-CTPA. • MBIR-CTPA may be achieved with drastic (93 %) dose reduction. • Low mA MBIR-CTPA should be studied in the setting of suspected PE.