Optimization of dose and image quality of paediatric cardiac catheterization procedure.

The purpose of this study is to quantify the quality of the available imaging modes for various iodine-based contrast agent concentration in paediatric cardiology. The figure of merit (FOM) was defined as the squared signal to noise ratio divided by a patient dose related parameter. An in house constructed phantom simulated a series of vessel segments with iodine concentrations from 10% or 30 mg/cc to 16% or 48 mg/cc of iodine in a blood plasma solution, all within the dimensional constraints of a paediatric patient.