Radiation dose and physical image quality in 128-section dual-source computed tomographic coronary angiography: a phantom study.

One-hundred-and-twenty-eight-section dual X-ray source computed tomography (CT) systems have been introduced into clinical practice and have been shown to increase temporal resolution. Higher temporal resolution allows low-dose spiral mode at a high pitch factor during CT coronary angiography. We evaluated radiation dose and physical image qualities in CT coronary angiography by applying high-pitch spiral, step-and-shoot, and low-pitch spiral modes to determine the optimal acquisition mode for clinical situations. An anthropomorphic phantom, small dosimeters, a calibration phantom, and a microdisc phantom were used to evaluate the radiation doses absorbed by thoracic organs, noise power spectrums, in-plane and z-axis modulation transfer functions, slice sensitivity profiles, and number of artifacts for the three acquisition modes. The high-pitch spiral mode had the advantage of a small absorbed radiation dose, but provided low image quality. The low-pitch spiral mode resulted in a high absorbed radiation dose of approximately 200 mGy for the heart. Although the absorbed radiation dose was lower in the step-and-shoot mode than in the low-pitch spiral mode, the noise power spectrum was inferior. The quality of the in-plane modulation transfer function differed, depending on spatial frequency. Therefore, the step-and-shoot mode should be applied initially because of its low absorbed radiation dose and superior image quality.