Comparison of dose length product and image quality of a biphasic whole-body polytrauma CT protocol with and without the automatic tube voltage selection.

Background And Aims: A significant source of man-made radiation is now linked to medical devices especially X-ray imaging based ones like CT scans which expose the body to cumulative ionizing radiation and thus attendant cancer risks. The aim of this study was to determine whether using a combination of Automatic Tube Current Modulation (ATCM) and Automatic Tube Voltage Selection (ATVS) during two-phase whole-body CT (2PWBCT) examinations would reduce the radiation dose while preserving the image quality.

Patients And Methods: This was a prospective, observational, single-centre study of 127 adult patients who had undergone the 2PWBCT polytraumatic protocol.

OPTIMISATION OF ABDOMINAL CT EXAM PROTOCOLS IN OBESE PATIENTS.

Obesity is marked as a global epidemic, and the number of obese people is steadily increasing. This disease affects various aspects of health care, which also includes radiodiagnostic imaging modalities. CT exams of bariatric patients are becoming common in radiological practice and bring problems of both technical and physical nature.

A systematic review of conversion factors between kerma-area product and effective/organ dose for cardiac interventional fluoroscopy procedures performed in adult and paediatric patients.

The aim of this systematic review is to undertake a critical appraisal of the evidence in the published literature concerning the conversion factors between kerma-area product () and effective/organ dose (DC, DC) for cardiac interventional fluoroscopy procedures performed in adults and paediatric patients and to propose reference conversion factors to help standardize dose calculations. A search strategy utilizing MeSH headings in three databases identified 59 (adult) and 37 (paediatric) papers deemed eligible for the review. Exclusion criteria were adopted to select data only from publications which established DCin patients using the ICRP 103 tissue weighting factors.

New Imaging Markers of Clinical Outcome in Asymptomatic Patients with Severe Aortic Regurgitation.

Determining the value of new imaging markers to predict aortic valve (AV) surgery in asymptomatic patients with severe aortic regurgitation (AR) in a prospective, observational, multicenter study. Consecutive patients with chronic severe AR were enrolled between 2015-2018. Baseline examination included echocardiography (ECHO) with 2- and 3-dimensional (2D and 3D) vena contracta area (VCA), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with regurgitant volume (RV) and fraction (RF) analyzed in CoreLab.

Selective coronary angiography, percutaneous coronary intervention and asymptomatic peri-procedural myocardial injury.

Background: While there have been a number of studies reporting the incidence and implications of elevated troponin levels after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), the body of information about the incidence, associations, and implications of elevated troponin levels following coronary angiography (CAG) is limited.

Materials And Methods: A total of 220 consecutive patients with stable coronary artery disease or intermediate or low-risk acute coronary syndrome without persistent ST-segment elevation (NSTE-ACS) were included in our study. High-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) levels were measured before and after coronary angiography (CAG) in patients with or without PCI and correlated with a number of clinical variables.

Impact of the Ceiling-Mounted Radiation Shielding Position on the Physician's Dose from Scatter Radiation during Interventional Procedures.

The effect of the ceiling-mounted radiation shielding on the amount of the scatter radiation was assessed under conditions simulating obese patients for clinically relevant exposure parameters. Measurements were performed in different projections and with different positions of the ceiling-mounted shielding: without shielding; shielding closest to the patient; and shielding closest to the physician performing the procedure. The protection provided by the shielding was assessed for cardiology when the femoral access is used and for radiology when the physician performs the procedure in the abdominal area.

Native T1 Relaxation Time and Extracellular Volume Fraction as Accurate Markers of Diffuse Myocardial Fibrosis in Heart Valve Disease - Comparison With Targeted Left Ventricular Myocardial Biopsy.

Background: The aim of our study was to investigate the relationship between the cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR)-derived native T1 relaxation time and myocardial extracellular volume (ECV) fraction and the extent of diffuse myocardial fibrosis (DMF) on targeted myocardial left ventricular (LV) biopsy.

Methods and results: The study population consisted of 40 patients (age 63±8 years, 65% male) undergoing valve and/or ascending aorta surgery for severe aortic stenosis (77.5%), root dilatation (7.