Clinical application of the contrast-enhancement boost technique in computed tomography angiography of the portal vein

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this study was to explore the improved image quality of the portal vein using the contrast-enhancement boost (CE-boost) technique for the improved visibility of abdominal-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scans in clinical practice. Methods This retrospective study included 50 patients in Group A who underwent routine abdominal-enhanced CT and 50 patients in Group B who underwent abdominal computed tomography angiography (CTA) with matched body mass index, age, and sex. Images in Group A were postprocessed with the CE-boost technique for further enhanced visibility of the portal vein. Both subjective and objective assessments of different branches of the portal vein in three types of images (i.e., Group A with CE-boost and without CE-boost, Group B) were statistically analyzed. Results The subjective scores of two experienced radiologists showed good consistency (kappa value > 0.624, p < 0.001), and the score of Group A with CE-boost (mean, 4.64) was significantly higher than that of the others (p < 0.001). The liver parenchyma and most target veins in Group A with CE-boost showed the highest CT, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) values and the lowest standard deviation (SD), while the CNR of most portal veins in Group A without CE-boost had the lowest CNR (p < 0.001). There were no differences in the SNR of the portal vein in Group A without CE-Boost and Group B (p > 0.05). Conclusion CE-boost can significantly improve image quality in portal vein imaging without any additional scanning settings or changes in the clinical workflow. Graphical Abstract