Volumetric assessment of solid pulmonary nodules on ultralow-dose CT: a phantom study.

Background: To reduce the radiation exposure from chest computed tomography (CT), ultralow-dose CT (ULDCT) protocols performed at sub-millisievert levels were previously tested for the evaluation of pulmonary nodules (PNs). The purpose of our study was to investigate the effect of ULDCT and iterative image reconstruction on volumetric measurements of solid PNs.

Methods: CT datasets of an anthropomorphic chest phantom containing solid microspheres were obtained with a third-generation dual-source CT at standard dose, 1/8th, 1/20th and 1/70th of standard dose [CT volume dose index (CTDI): 0.

Chest pain CT in the emergency department: Watch out for the myocardium.

Rationale And Objectives: To evaluate the frequency and relevance of hypodense myocardium (HM) encountered in patients undergoing chest-pain CT in the emergency department (ED).

Material And Methods: In this IRB-approved retrospective study, ECG-gated chest-pain CT examinations of 300 consecutive patients (mean age 60 ± 17 years) presenting with acute chest-pain to our ED were evaluated. Once ST-segment elevation infarction was excluded, chest-pain CT including the coronary arteries (rule-out acute coronary syndrome (ACS), pulmonary embolism (PE) and acute aortic syndrome (AAS): chest-pain CT, n = 121) or not including the coronary arteries was performed (rule-out PE and AAS: chest-pain CT, n = 179).

Diagnostic accuracy and added value of dual-energy subtraction radiography compared to standard conventional radiography using computed tomography as standard of reference.

Purpose: To retrospectively evaluate diagnostic performance of dual-energy subtraction radiography (DESR) for interpretation of chest radiographs compared to conventional radiography (CR) using computed tomography (CT) as standard of reference.

Material And Methods: A total of 199 patients (75 female, median age 67) were included in this institutional review board (IRB)-approved clinical trial. All patients were scanned in posteroanterior and lateral direction with dual-shot DE-technique.

Dose-Optimized Computed Tomography for Screening and Follow-Up of Solid Pulmonary Nodules in Obesity: A Phantom Study.

To determine the lowest CT radiation dose-level at maintained image-quality and high sensitivity for detection of pulmonary-nodules in obesity. Single-energy CT with tin-filtration was performed in a chest-phantom with solid pulmonary-nodules simulating over-weight and obesity. CTDI of the standard-protocol was 0.

Diagnostic Value of Bronchoalveolar Lavage for Diagnosis of Suspected Peripheral Lung Cancer.

Background: There is a paucity of data concerning the benefit of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) for the diagnosis of suspected peripheral lung cancer (PLC). The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic value of BAL for the diagnosis of suspected PLC.

Patients And Methods: All flexible bronchoscopies that included BAL among other modalities (brush, forceps, washing) for the diagnosis of a suspected PLC performed between 2009 and 2013 were analyzed in this retrospective study.