Research Article

The Impact of Combining a Low-Tube Voltage Acquisition with Iterative Reconstruction on Total Iodine Dose in Coronary CT Angiography

Table 3

Mean objective image quality parameters with 95% confidence interval of the three coronary arteries (RCA, LCx, and LAD), aorta, and muscle tissue.

RCALCxLADAortaMuscle

SoC protocolCT value (HU)301.5 (262.8–340.2)321.9 (289.5–354.3)297.6 (250.5–344.7)347.9 (321.9–373.9)123.1 (107.6–138.6)
SD46.3 (32.1–60.4)52.9 (37.7–68.2)53.2 (39.8–66.7)55.3 (45–65.5)50.6 (41.6–59.7)
SNR7.1 (5–9.2)6.6 (4.8–8.4)5.8 (4.7–6.9)6.5 (5.4–7.6)2.5 (1.9–3.2)
CNR3.6 (2.5–6.1)4 (3–5.1)3.5 (2.6–4.3)4.6 (3.6–5.5)

Protocol
A
CT value (HU)268.3 (233.5–303.1)277.4 (242.8–313.1)281.4 (256.3–306.6)359.7 (332.9–386.4)132.1 (110.3–153.8)
SD34 (22.8–45.2)40.8 (32.5–49.1)50.6 (36.2–65)42.8 (38.3–47.4)40.7 (34.2–47.3)
SNR8.6 (6.2–11)7.1 (5.5–8.7)6.2 (4–8.3) (7.1–10) (3–3.5)
CNR3.6 (2.1–5.1)3.8 (2.2–5.4)3.9 (2.1–5.8)5.9 (4.1–7.7)

Protocol
B
CT value (HU)250.7 (214.5–287)275.3 (234.9–315.8)248 (197.4–298.5)326.5 (300.8–352.2)116 (91.1–140.8)
SD30.5 (24.1–36.9) (24.4–37) (22.9–51.3) (34.4–41.4) (27.5–37.7)
SNR8.6 (6.5–10.7)9.4 (6.8–12)7.4 (5–9.8) (7.5–9.9) (3–4.2)
CNR4.3 (2.5–6.1)5.1 (3.3–6.8)4.3 (2–6.6) (4.7–8.7)

indicates significant difference compared to reference protocol ().