Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Radiology professionals have found that they can reduce radiation dose in all types of patients by lowering CT x-ray tube settings. But reduced kV doesn't work as well in the obese.
Researchers tried lowering the kV settings for coronary CT angiography studies in overweight and obese patients. While image quality was lower, the technique still produced diagnostic-quality images across the cohort.
But the lower settings didn't work as well in the patients with the highest body mass index numbers, who need more x-ray tube power to penetrate the extra body fat. Learn more by clicking here, or visit our CT Digital Community at ct.auntminnie.com.
VC for follow-up studies
In other news, U.S. and South Korean researchers are finding that virtual colonoscopy could be a good tool for following up patients who have undergone surgery for colon cancer.
They found that VC turned in good performance in detecting recurrent cancers, and it was even able to detect some unsuspected extracolonic abnormalities that would have been missed on conventional colonoscopy. The latter is a key finding, according to the authors, as recurrent disease is often metastatic and occurs distant from the original cancer.
Learn more by clicking here, or visit the Virtual Colonoscopy Digital Community at vc.auntminnie.com.
