Precision of Iodine Quantification in Hepatic CT: Effects of Reconstruction (FBP and MBIR) and Imaging Parameters

摘要

In hepatic CT imaging, the lesion enhancement after the injection of contrast media is of quantitative interest. However, the precision of this quantitative measurement may be dependent on the imaging techniques such as dose and reconstruction algorithm. To determine the impact of different techniques, we scanned an iodinated liver phantom with acquisition protocols of different dose levels, and reconstructed images with different algorithms (FBP and MBIR) and slice thicknesses. The contrast of lesions was quantified from the images, and its precision was calculated for each protocol separately. Results showed that precision was improved by increasing dose, increasing slice thickness, and using MBIR reconstruction. When using MBIR instead of FBP, the same precision can be achieved at 50% less dose. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation of the quantification precision in hepatic CT imaging using iterative reconstructions.