An Analysis of Doses and Images of Mobile CT of High-Energy Electromagnetic Wave Area

Abstract

The demand in medical field for Mobile Computed Tomography in high-energy electromagnetic area is exploding. To measure the distribution of exposure doses in abdomen inspection, this study placed 2 glass dosimeter elements on the entry point and exit point, respectively, 2-3 cm above the navel, the central point of abdominal inspection, and measured exposure doses in different parts. And, to reduce measurement errors, MDCT scanning was done 5 times. Acquired images were analyzed qualitatively to identify usefulness in medical treatment. Qualitative analysis of images was done about image contrast, lesion discovery rate, and clarity of border. Five specialists (2 medical doctors specializing radiology and 3 radiologists with working experiences over 10 years) were asked to classify the results on the 5-point scale (1 - very poor; 2 - poor; 3 - average; 4 - good; 5 - very good). In skull CT scanning, exposure doses measured with glass dosimeter were as follows: 21.4 ± 0.43 mGy by 4-MDCT; 13.7 ± 0.43 mGy by 128-MDCT; 5.02 ± 0.19 by Mobile CT, which shows that Mobile CT requires relatively lower dose to get meaningful images in diagnosis (P 0.05). In skull CT scanning, the images acquired from MDCT and Mobile CT were graded on the 5-point Likert scale: 4-MDCT images got 3.50 point; 128-MDCT images got 4.43 point; Mobile CT images got 4.21 point. The 128-MDCT got the highest point, followed by 4-MDCT and Mobile CT. The difference was statistically significant (P 0.05). The above findings show that Mobile CT is good for getting high-quality image and reducing radiation exposure doses. It seems that more hospitals will use Mobile CT.