Abstract
Purpose:Automatic exposure control (AEC) is not typically evaluated or monitored in CT quality assurance programs. The purpose of this study was to develop/evaluate a new AEC testing platform for the clinical physics program at our institution, and characterize AEC performance across different CT systems.Methods:The Mercury Phantom comprises three tapered and four uniform regions of polyethylene(16, 23, 30, and 37 cm in diameter); each region includes four inserts: air, Polystyrene, Acrylic, and Teflon. The phantom was imaged using AEC and a fixed tube current technique across 12 clinical CT scanners. Those included five Siemens Somatom Definition Flash, four GE Discovery CT750HD, and three GE Lightspeed VCT systems. A custom MATLAB software package provided MTF, NPS, and detectability indices for each diameter section of the phantom. Detectability indices were used to evaluate the relationship between AEC setting, patient size, and image quality. The magnitude of the power of a best fit exponential curve to the detectability indices and phantom diameter was used as a measure of AEC strength. Results were compared within/across scanner models, and as baseline values for comparison with future system performance testing.Results:For each scanner model, the percent difference in expected image quality and AEC setting was under 3%(+/−2%). The average decrease in detectability between the small and large diameter phantom sections for the Siemens Flash, GE CT750, and GE VCT was 99%(+/−10%), 42%(+/−25%), and 33%(+/−41%), respectively. The value signifying AEC strength was 0.051(+/−13%), 0.019(+/−18%), and 0.018(+/−26%), for the Siemens Flash, GE CT750, and GE VCT models, respectively.Conclusion:This study demonstrated a practical approach to test the AEC performance of clinical CT systems at a large academic medical center. The quantification and evaluation of AEC performance should be included in acceptance testing and in annual physics testing of clinical CT systems.
Published Version
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