Abdominal Aorta: Evaluation with Dual-Source Dual-Energy Multidetector CT after Endovascular Repair of Aneurysms—Initial Observations

Abstract

Preliminary observations suggest that obtaining DE multidetector CT data by using a single 60-second contrast material-enhanced acquisition may be all that is required for surveillance after endovascular repair of AAA.

Evaluation of Virtual Noncontrast Images Obtained from Dual-Energy CTA for Diagnosing Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

“…6 VNC images had been studied primarily in the abdominal aorta and in patients after endovascular repair. 12 To date, many studies of the clinical application of VNC images have been performed, mainly in the abdomen for characterizing renal masses, 13 applications in pancreatic CT, 14 and detecting urinary or biliary stones. 15,16 Most of those studies proved that VNC images were useful and feasible, though the imaging quality was inferior to that in the TNC images.…”

Dual-energy CT with tin filter technology for the discrimination of renal lesion proxies containing blood, protein, and contrast-agent. An experimental phantom study

“…The recent introduction of dual-source CT (DSCT) systems has re-enlivened DECT for various clinical indications [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], owing to the simultaneous data acquisition of two X-ray tube-detector systems at two different X-ray spectra.…”

“…Common applications of DECT include the reconstruction of virtual unenhanced images to spare the (true) unenhanced CT acquisition and therefore reduce the total radiation dose [9][10][11][12], the detailed use of material decomposition techniques to characterise urinary stones of different compositions [9; 13-16], the separation of xenon from air [18], or blood from air [19; 20].…”

“…However, most cystic renal lesions are discovered incidentally on contrast-enhanced abdominal CT examinations performed for non-renal indications [1] and in case of equivocal findings regarding their attenuation on contrast-enhanced CT studies, patients may need to be recalled to undergo a second, unenhanced abdominal CT, a procedure causing increased costs and radiation exposure to the patient. Moreover, the assessment of enhancement of cystic renal lesions may be prone to errors by erroneously assuming a "true" enhancement in the presence of the -so calledpseudoenhancement, which refers to an artificial increase in attenuation of a simple renal cyst following contrast agent application, and is most problematic for small cysts at high levels of renal parenchymal enhancement (8,9). This issue is further complicated by the fact that certain renal cell carcinomas may enhance in a rather weak and homogeneous manner [25].…”

Computed tomography—old ideas and new technology

“…Several clinical applications for dual-energy imaging (using both dual-source and fast kVp switching) are emerging, including virtual unenhanced imaging, differentiating urinary stones, imaging of gout, and others [28][29][30][31][32].…”