100 kVp Low-Tube Voltage Abdominal CT in Adults: Radiation Dose Reduction and Image Quality Comparison of 120 kVp Abdominal CT

Abstract

Recently, reducing radiation dose to all body parts of children and adults has been a paramount issue in diagnostic radiology (1). Among various techniques used to reduce radiation dose, lowering peak tube voltage has been a clear trend because radiation dose changes approximately with the square of tube potential (2-5). Lowering peak tube voltage provides improved contrast enhancement of iodine-containing vascular and parenchymal organs because it provides a greater photoelectric effect with decreased Compton scattering (6, 7). Inevitably, lowering peak tube voltage can lead to greater image noise and poor image quality, thus resulting in decreased diagnostic accuracy. This prevented clinical implementation of techniques for lowering peak tube voltage in the past, particularly in abdominal CT application (8). However, a new algorithm for concurrently adjusting the high-output tube current known as automatic tube current modulation (ATCM) can counterbalance greater image 100 kVp Low-Tube Voltage Abdominal CT in Adults: Radiation Dose Reduction and Image Quality Comparison of 120 kVp Abdominal CT 성인에서 100 kVp와 120 kVp 관접압을 이용한 복부 전산화단층촬영의 방사선량 감소와 영상의 질 비교