CT Scan Dosimetric Parameters Routine Monitoring: First Results of Radiation Dose Optimization Strategies Promptly Provided by a Multidisciplinary Team

CONCLUSION Radiation dose reduction, while saving image quality could be easily implemented with this approach. Furthermore, the availability of a dosimetric data archive provides immediate feedbacks, related to the implemented optimization strategies. Background JCI Standards and European Legislation (EURATOM 59/2013) require the implementation of patient radiation protection programs in diagnostic radiology. Aim of this study is to demonstrate the possibility to reduce patients radiation exposure without decreasing image quality, through a multidisciplinary team (MT), which analyzes dosimetric data of diagnostic examinations. Evaluation Data from CT examinations performed with two different scanners (Siemens DefinitionTM and GE LightSpeed UltraTM) between November and December 2013 are considered. CT scanners are configured to automatically send images to DoseWatch© software, which is able to store output parameters (e.g. kVp, mAs, pitch ) and exposure data (e.g. CTDIvol, DLP, SSDE). Data are analyzed and discussed by a MT composed by Medical Physicists and Radiologists, to identify protocols which show critical dosimetric values, then suggest possible improvement actions to be implemented. Furthermore, the large amount of data available allows to monitor diagnostic protocols currently in use and to identify different statistic populations for each of them. Discussion We identified critical values of average CTDIvol for head and facial bones examinations (respectively 61.8 mGy, 151 scans; 61.6 mGy, 72 scans), performed with the GE LightSpeed CTTM. Statistic analysis allowed us to identify the presence of two different populations for head scan, one of which was only 10% of the total number of scans and corresponded to lower exposure values. The MT adopted this protocol as standard. Moreover, the constant output parameters monitoring allowed us to identify unusual values in facial bones exams, due to changes during maintenance service, which the team promptly suggested to correct. This resulted in a substantial dose saving in CTDIvol average values of approximately 15% and 50% for head and facial bones exams, respectively. Diagnostic image quality was deemed suitable for clinical use by radiologists.

Patients with mild traumatic brain injury: immediate and long-term outcome compared to intra-cranial injuries on CT scan

BACKGROUND: Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) defined as Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) 14 or 15 has shown contradictory short- and long-term outcomes. The objective of this study was to correlate intra-cranial injuries (ICI) on CT scan to neurocognitive tests at admission and to complaints after 1 year. METHODS: Two hundred and five patients with MTBI underwent a CT scan and were examined with neurocognitive tests. After 1 year complaints were assessed by phone interviews. RESULTS: The neurocognitive tests in 51% of the patients showed significant deficits; there was no difference for patients with GCS 14-15, nor was there a difference between patients with ICI to patients without. After 1 year patients with ICI had significantly more complaints than patients without ICI, the most frequent complaint was headache and memory deficits. CONCLUSIONS: No correlation was found between GCS or ICI and the neurocognitive tests upon admission. After 1 year, patients with ICI have significantly more complaints than patients without ICI. No cost savings resulted by doing immediate CT scan on all.

Scepticism is warranted or when the CT scan reveals to be a pitfall

We report the case of a 72-year old woman with known metastatic breast cancer who presented to the emergency department with progressive dyspnea on exertion and chest pain. The diagnosis of pulmonary embolism could be established by pulmonary scintigraphy after computed tomography and ultrasound of the lower extremities had been negative in spite of a moderate clinical pretest probability (Wells score). This case shows that even if we manage suspected pulmonary embolism using algorithms combining clinical probability, computed tomography and ultrasound we must remain aware of eventually missing the diagnosis and carry on investigating cases with elevated clinical probability.

CT scan based determination of optimal bone corridor for atlantoaxial ventral screw fixation in miniature breed dogs

OBJECTIVE: To describe the most reliable insertion angle, corridor length and width to place a ventral transarticular atlantoaxial screw in miniature breed dogs. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective CT imaging study. SAMPLE POPULATION: Cervical CT scans of toy breed dogs (n = 21). METHODS: Dogs were divided into 2 groups--group 1: no atlantoaxial abnormalities; group 2: atlantoaxial instability. Insertion angle in medial to lateral and ventral to dorsal direction was measured in group 1. Corridor length and width were measured in groups 1 and 2. Corridor width was measured at 3 points of the corridor. Each variable was measured 3 times and the mean used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Mean +/- SD optimal transarticular atlantoaxial insertion angle was determined to be 40 +/- 1 degrees in medial to lateral direction from the midline and 20 +/- 1 degrees in ventral to dorsal direction from the floor of the neural canal of C2. Mean corridor length was 7 mm (range, 4.5-8.0 mm). Significant correlation was found between corridor length, body weight, and age. Mean bone corridor width ranged from 3 to 5 mm. Statistically significant differences were found between individuals, gender and measured side. CONCLUSIONS: Optimal placement of a transarticular screw for atlantoaxial joint stabilization is very demanding because the screw path corridor is very narrow.

Post-therapeutic response evaluation by a combination of endoscopy and CT scan in esophagogastric adenocarcinoma after chemotherapy: better than its reputation.

BACKGROUND Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is an accepted standard of care for locally advanced esophagogastric cancer. As only a subgroup benefits, a response-based tailored treatment would be of interest. The aim of our study was the evaluation of the prognostic and predictive value of clinical response in esophagogastric adenocarcinomas. METHODS Clinical response based on a combination of endoscopy and computed tomography (CT) scan was evaluated retrospectively within a prospective database in center A and then transferred to center B. A total of 686/740 (A) and 184/210 (B) patients, staged cT3/4, cN0/1 underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy and were then re-staged by endoscopy and CT before undergoing tumor resection. Of 184 patients, 118 (B) additionally had an interim response assessment 4-6 weeks after the start of chemotherapy. RESULTS In A, 479 patients (70 %) were defined as clinical nonresponders, 207 (30 %) as responders. Median survival was 38 months (nonresponders: 27 months, responders: 108 months, log-rank, p < 0.001). Clinical and histopathological response correlated significantly (p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, clinical response was an independent prognostic factor (HR for death 1.4, 95 %CI 1.0-1.8, p = 0.032). In B, 140 patients (76 %) were nonresponders and 44 (24 %) responded. Median survival was 33 months, (nonresponders: 27 months, responders: not reached, p = 0.003). Interim clinical response evaluation (118 patients) also had prognostic impact (p = 0.008). Interim, preoperative clinical response and histopathological response correlated strongly (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION Preoperative clinical response was an independent prognostic factor in center A, while in center B its prognostic value could only be confirmed in univariate analysis. The accordance with histopathological response was good in both centers, and interim clinical response evaluation showed comparable results to preoperative evaluation.

Reconstructing 3D x-ray CT images of polymer gel dosimeters using the zero-scan method

In this study x-ray CT has been used to produce a 3D image of an irradiated PAGAT gel sample, with noise-reduction achieved using the ‘zero-scan’ method. The gel was repeatedly CT scanned and a linear fit to the varying Hounsfield unit of each pixel in the 3D volume was evaluated across the repeated scans, allowing a zero-scan extrapolation of the image to be obtained. To minimise heating of the CT scanner’s x-ray tube, this study used a large slice thickness (1 cm), to provide image slices across the irradiated region of the gel, and a relatively small number of CT scans (63), to extrapolate the zero-scan image. The resulting set of transverse images shows reduced noise compared to images from the initial CT scan of the gel, without being degraded by the additional radiation dose delivered to the gel during the repeated scanning. The full, 3D image of the gel has a low spatial resolution in the longitudinal direction, due to the selected scan parameters. Nonetheless, important features of the dose distribution are apparent in the 3D x-ray CT scan of the gel. The results of this study demonstrate that the zero-scan extrapolation method can be applied to the reconstruction of multiple x-ray CT slices, to provide useful 2D and 3D images of irradiated dosimetry gels.

3D lung and rib cage reconstruction using low dose CT scans of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis pre and post anterior thoracoscopic correction

Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) has been associated with reduced pulmonary function believed to be due to a restriction of lung volume by the deformed thoracic cavity. A recent study by our group examined the changes in lung volume pre and post anterior thoracoscopic scoliosis correction using pulmonary function testing (1), however the anatomical changes in ribcage shape and left/right lung volume after thoracoscopic surgery which govern overall respiratory capacity are unknown. The aim of this study was to use 3D rendering from CT scan data to compare lung and ribcage anatomical changes from pre to two years post thoracoscopic anterior scoliosis correction. The study concluded that 3D volumetric reconstruction from CT scans is a powerful means of evaluating changes in pulmonary and thoracic anatomy following surgical AIS correction. Most likely, lung volume changes following thoracoscopic scoliosis correction are multifactorial and affected by changes in height (due to residual growth), ribcage shape, diaphragm positioning, Cobb angle correction in the thoracic spine. Further analysis of the 3D reconstructions will be performed to assess how each of these factors affect lung volume in this patient cohort.

Typical accuracy and quality control of a process for creating CT-Based virtual bone models

A pragmatic method for assessing the accuracy and precision of a given processing pipeline required for converting computed tomography (CT) image data of bones into representative three dimensional (3D) models of bone shapes is proposed. The method is based on coprocessing a control object with known geometry which enables the assessment of the quality of resulting 3D models. At three stages of the conversion process, distance measurements were obtained and statistically evaluated. For this study, 31 CT datasets were processed. The final 3D model of the control object contained an average deviation from reference values of −1.07±0.52 mm standard deviation (SD) for edge distances and −0.647±0.43 mm SD for parallel side distances of the control object. Coprocessing a reference object enables the assessment of the accuracy and precision of a given processing pipeline for creating CTbased 3D bone models and is suitable for detecting most systematic or human errors when processing a CT-scan. Typical errors have about the same size as the scan resolution.

Letter to the editor : likelihood of tetraplegia after CT clearance of the cervical spine in obtunded blunt trauma patients

...the probabilistic computer simulation study by Dunham and colleagues evaluating the impact of different cervical spine management (CSM) strategies on tetraplegia and brain injury outcomes.1 Based on literature findings, expert opinion and with use of advances programming techniques the authors conclude that early collar removal without cervical spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a preferable CSM strategy for comatose, blunt trauma patients with extremity movement and a negative cervical spine computed tomography(CT) scan. Although we do not have the required expertise to comment on the applied statistical approach, we would like to comment on one of the medical assumptions raised by the authors, namely the likelihood of tetraplegia in this specific population....

Analysis of Cone-Beam CT using prior information

Treatment plans for conformal radiotherapy are based on an initial CT scan. The aim is to deliver the prescribed dose to the tumour, while minimising exposure to nearby organs. Recent advances make it possible to also obtain a Cone-Beam CT (CBCT) scan, once the patient has been positioned for treatment. A statistical model will be developed to compare these CBCT scans with the initial CT scan. Changes in the size, shape and position of the tumour and organs will be detected and quantified. Some progress has already been made in segmentation of prostate CBCT scans [1],[2],[3]. However, none of the existing approaches have taken full advantage of the prior information that is available. The planning CT scan is expertly annotated with contours of the tumour and nearby sensitive objects. This data is specific to the individual patient and can be viewed as a snapshot of spatial information at a point in time. There is an abundance of studies in the radiotherapy literature that describe the amount of variation in the relevant organs between treatments. The findings from these studies can form a basis for estimating the degree of uncertainty. All of this information can be incorporated as an informative prior into a Bayesian statistical model. This model will be developed using scans of CT phantoms, which are objects with known geometry. Thus, the accuracy of the model can be evaluated objectively. This will also enable comparison between alternative models.

Segmentation of cone-beam CT using a hidden Markov random field with informative priors

Purpose: Flat-detector, cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) has enormous potential to improve the accuracy of treatment delivery in image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT). To assist radiotherapists in interpreting these images, we use a Bayesian statistical model to label each voxel according to its tissue type. Methods: The rich sources of prior information in IGRT are incorporated into a hidden Markov random field (MRF) model of the 3D image lattice. Tissue densities in the reference CT scan are estimated using inverse regression and then rescaled to approximate the corresponding CBCT intensity values. The treatment planning contours are combined with published studies of physiological variability to produce a spatial prior distribution for changes in the size, shape and position of the tumour volume and organs at risk (OAR). The voxel labels are estimated using the iterated conditional modes (ICM) algorithm. Results: The accuracy of the method has been evaluated using 27 CBCT scans of an electron density phantom (CIRS, Inc. model 062). The mean voxel-wise misclassification rate was 6.2%, with Dice similarity coefficient of 0.73 for liver, muscle, breast and adipose tissue. Conclusions: By incorporating prior information, we are able to successfully segment CBCT images. This could be a viable approach for automated, online image analysis in radiotherapy.

Segmentation of cone-beam CT using a hidden Markov random field with informative priors

Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) has enormous potential to improve the accuracy of treatment delivery in image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT). To assist radiotherapists in interpreting these images, we use a Bayesian statistical model to label each voxel according to its tissue type. The rich sources of prior information in IGRT are incorporated into a hidden Markov random field model of the 3D image lattice. Tissue densities in the reference CT scan are estimated using inverse regression and then rescaled to approximate the corresponding CBCT intensity values. The treatment planning contours are combined with published studies of physiological variability to produce a spatial prior distribution for changes in the size, shape and position of the tumour volume and organs at risk. The voxel labels are estimated using iterated conditional modes. The accuracy of the method has been evaluated using 27 CBCT scans of an electron density phantom. The mean voxel-wise misclassification rate was 6.2\%, with Dice similarity coefficient of 0.73 for liver, muscle, breast and adipose tissue. By incorporating prior information, we are able to successfully segment CBCT images. This could be a viable approach for automated, online image analysis in radiotherapy.

Measurements of Epidural Space Depth Using Preexisting CT Scans Correlate with Loss of Resistance Depth during Thoracic Epidural Catheter Placement.

Background. Thoracic epidural catheters provide the best quality postoperative pain relief for major abdominal and thoracic surgical procedures, but placement is one of the most challenging procedures in the repertoire of an anesthesiologist. Most patients presenting for a procedure that would benefit from a thoracic epidural catheter have already had high resolution imaging that may be useful to assist placement of a catheter. Methods. This retrospective study used data from 168 patients to examine the association and predictive power of epidural-skin distance (ESD) on computed tomography (CT) to determine loss of resistance depth acquired during epidural placement. Additionally, the ability of anesthesiologists to measure this distance was compared to a radiologist, who specializes in spine imaging. Results. There was a strong association between CT measurement and loss of resistance depth (P < 0.0001); the presence of morbid obesity (BMI > 35) changed this relationship (P = 0.007). The ability of anesthesiologists to make CT measurements was similar to a gold standard radiologist (all individual ICCs > 0.9). Conclusions. Overall, this study supports the examination of a recent CT scan to aid in the placement of a thoracic epidural catheter. Making use of these scans may lead to faster epidural placements, fewer accidental dural punctures, and better epidural blockade.