Multi-institution consensus paper for acquisition of portable chest radiographs through glass barriers.

Background: To conserve personal protective equipment (PPE) and reduce exposure to potentially infected COVID-19 patients, several Californian facilities independently implemented a method of acquiring portable chest radiographs through glass barriers that was originally developed by the University of Washington.

Methods: This work quantifies the transmission of radiation through a glass barrier using six radiographic systems at five facilities. Patient entrance air kerma (EAK) and effective dose were estimated both with and without the glass barrier.

Performance Evaluation of Material Decomposition With Rapid-Kilovoltage-Switching Dual-Energy CT and Implications for Assessing Bone Mineral Density.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to quantitatively investigate the accuracy and performance of dual-energy CT (DECT) material density images and to calculate the areal bone mineral density (aBMD) for comparison with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA).

Materials And Methods: A rapid-kilovoltage-switching DECT scanner was used to create material density images of various two-material phantoms of known concentrations under different experimental conditions. They were subsequently also scanned by single-energy CT and DEXA.

Detection of aortic arch calcification in apolipoprotein E-null mice using carbon nanotube-based micro-CT system.

Background: We performed in vivo micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) imaging using a novel carbon nanotube (CNT)-based x-ray source to detect calcification in the aortic arch of apolipoprotein E (apoE)-null mice.

Methods And Results: We measured calcification volume of aortic arch plaques using CNT-based micro-CT in 16- to 18-month-old males on 129S6/SvEvTac and C57BL/6J genetic backgrounds (129-apoE KO and B6-apoE KO). Cardiac and respiratory gated images were acquired in each mouse under anesthesia.