Prospective study testing whether low-dose (LD) ultra-high-resolution (UHR) photon-counting CT can preserve diagnostic image quality for visceral artery CTA. The study included 57 patients in the full-dose group and 57 in the low-dose group.
Each acquisition was reconstructed two ways: 0.2 mm / Bv48 / QIR 4 and 1 mm / Bv40 / QIR 3. Objective SNR/CNR and subjective noise, vessel sharpness, overall quality, and visibility of nine visceral arteries were assessed.
The 0.2-mm UHR reconstruction had lower SNR and CNR than the 1-mm reconstruction, but nevertheless achieved better qualitative image quality, particularly for depiction of tiny arteries on volume-rendered images (p < 0.001).
Importantly, full-dose imaging generally did not provide significantly higher SNR/CNR than low-dose imaging at the same slice thickness. Exceptions were SNR for the common hepatic, splenic, and bilateral renal arteries with the 0.2-mm reconstruction.
Low-dose scanning also did not significantly impair image quality in overweight patients within the same reconstruction setting.
Visibility of the nine evaluated visceral arteries was largely comparable between full- and low-dose protocols, with limited exceptions involving the superior mesenteric and left gastric arteries.
