Meetings » 2nd CTUG Meeting » Can multi-slice helical CT achieve a better noise-dose relationship than single-slice?

Can multi-slice helical CT achieve a better noise-dose relationship than single-slice?

JF Carden, MA Lewis, N Keat and S Edyvean

ImPACT, St George's Hospital, London

Abstract

Manufacturers claim that multi-slice CT scanners exhibit performance peaks at certain helical pitches, whereas in single-slice CT the image noise remains unchanged with pitch and the slice sensitivity profile steadily deteriorates with increasing pitch. The inference is that, by combining optimised pitch with a new form of helical interpolation algorithm, an improved relationship between noise and dose at a given effective slice thickness can be achieved in multi-slice scanning compared with single-slice scanning. Most of the evidence that has appeared in the literature is based on computer simulations. The aim of our study was to obtain experimental data for the relationship between noise, dose and slice profile at the available pitches on both a multi-slice and a single-slice scanner. We used standard ImPACT phantoms and protocols to measure noise, dose and slice profiles on a single-slice IGE HiSpeed CT/i scanner and on a multi-slice IGE LightSpeed QX/i scanner. A comparison of the results demonstrates the extent to which the manufacturer's claims for multi-slice CT performance are borne out.

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