Rationale and Objectives
Neonates are at increased risk for cold stress and hypothermia in cool environments.
An infant transport mattress (ITM) is commonly used to increase neonate temperature
during transport and has been used during CT scanning. This study determined the impact
of an ITM on radiation dose and image artifacts during CT scanning.
Materials and Methods
CT images from a single clinical patient scanned with an ITM were reviewed, and observations
of image artifacts were recorded. A phantom was scanned with and without the ITM while
varying tube-current modulation, reconstruction method, slice thickness, metal reduction
algorithm, tube voltage, and tube current. The effects of the ITM on computed tomography
dose index (CTDIvol), mean Hounsfield unit (HU), and HU standard deviation were recorded.
Results
The clinical patient scan demonstrated significantly decreased mean HU and increased
HU standard deviation. In the phantom, the ITM increased CTDIvol 27% and induced an artifact that decreased the mean HU by 3.5 HU and increased HU
standard deviation by 4.6 HU. Angular tube-current modulation, strong iterative reconstruction,
thick slices, metal artifact reduction, and high mA reduced the artifact.
Conclusions
Using ITM during CT scanning is not recommended given the relatively brief scanning
time, increased dose, and induced image artifacts. Based on our results, several acquisition
parameters may be altered to mitigate the image artifact if an ITM is required during
scanning.
Key Words
Abbreviations and Acronyms:
ITM (infant transport mattress), CT (computed tomography), AP (anteroposterior), CTDIvol (computed tomography dose index), ROI (region of interest), TCM (tube-current modulation), SSDE (size-specific dose estimate), HU (Hounsfield units)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 25, 2015
Accepted:
October 10,
2015
Received in revised form:
September 9,
2015
Received:
September 9,
2015
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
