Feasibility Study of Dose Modulation for Reducing Radiation Dose with Arms-Down Patient Position in Abdominal Computed Tomography

Abstract

This study was carried out to demonstrate whether the radiation dose for patients in arms-down position can be reduced without affecting the diagnosis on abdominal computed tomography (CT). The patients were divided into two groups: group A, which included patients with arms-down position using dose modulation on, and group B, which included patients with arms-down position using dose modulation turned off. Quantitative evaluation was compared using Hounsfield units, standard deviation, and signal-to-noise ratio of the four regions. The qualitative evaluation was assessed for overall image quality, subjective image noise, and beam hardening artifacts. Dose evaluation for CT dose index (CTDI) and dose length product (DLP) was compared by comparing the CT images with dose modulation turned on and off. In the quantitative and qualitative evaluation, there was no statistically significant difference between groups A and B (p > 0.05). In the dose evaluation, the CT images with dose modulation turned off had significantly lower CTDI and DLP than the CT images with dose modulation turned on (p < 0.05). Our results suggest that, for the GE Revolution EVO CT scanner, turning off dose modulation and increasing the tube voltage can reduce the radiation dose for patients with the arms-down position without affecting the diagnosis. This study did not consider the change of tube potential according to the use of dose modulation, and we plan to conduct additional research in the future.