Reducing the radiation dose for computed tomography colonography using model-based iterative reconstruction.

Purpose: To determine whether radiation doses during computed tomography (CT) colonography (CTC) can be further reduced while maintaining image quality using model-based iterative reconstruction (MBIR).

Methods: Twenty patients underwent CTC at a standard dose in supine and prone positions and at a reduced dose in the supine position. All other scan parameters (except noise index) were held constant.

Partial preparation computed tomographic colonography: a feasibility study.

We retrospectively evaluated computed tomographic colonography examinations of patients who have had a partial bowel preparation and compared the quality of their preparation with patients who have had a full bowel preparation. In total, 27 patients undergoing computed tomographic colonography examination (10 patients with partial bowel preparation and 17 with full bowel preparation) had their examinations retrospectively reviewed by three independent radiologists in a blinded manner, with evaluation of residual stool, distention, residual fluid, and overall bowel preparation quality. Six colon segments were evaluated individually and independently for these four variables (a total of 161 segments tested).

Large sample of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis cases from a single institution.

Objectives: To estimate and stratify the risk of development of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) in well-defined at-risk subpopulations from a large single institution, and to perform a single-institution case series study of patients with biopsy-proven NSF.

Design: Retrospective cohort of patients exposed to gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) at a single institution during an 8-year period (January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2006), and a case series study of patients with biopsy-proven NSF.

Setting: A primary, secondary, and tertiary health care center that treated more than 2.