Dynamic volume CT: the next revolution in clinical CT

Abstract

The need for table motion in multi-detector CT causes image volumes acquired for whole organ motion and perfusion studies to lack temporal uniformity. The next revolution in clinical CT, dynamic volume CT, mitigates this limitation by providing the ability to acquire an entire organ with isotropic resolution in a single gantry rotation with no table movement. The first dynamic volume CT scanner has recently been introduced and comprises 320 detector rows of 0.5mm channel thickness, covering 16cm of anatomy in one rotation of 0.35sec. This scanner offers many advancements in terms of temporal uniformity, reconstruction, and radiation dose. This system significantly reduces motion artifact and eliminates contrast phase differences within the volume. Because this scanner does not require helical acquisition for volumetric imaging, it delivers significantly less dose for applications such as CT coronary angiography exams as well as reduced dose in most other applications. Furthermore, by eliminating table motion, the need for complex interpolation methods that can distort cardiac images is removed. Image quality is not sacrificed compared with standard 64-row CT scanners, as demonstrated via low contrast, resolution, and accuracy measurements presented in this work. By capturing the entire brain in one rotation, brain perfusion, bone subtraction, and quantitative perfusion analysis are now possible with a single low dose exam. Dynamic volume CT offers to change the way medicine approaches stroke patients, myocardial perfusion studies, and imaging of other moving body parts such as the lung and joints.