Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Methods for cutting radiation dose are at the top of the agenda this week on AuntMinnie.com as we feature a pair of articles covering dose-cutting techniques for uterine artery embolization (UAE) and whole-chest triple-rule-out CT.
First up is a story in our Women's Imaging Digital Community by staff writer Kate Madden Yee, who describes how German researchers used an MR angiography (MRA) scan for planning UAE interventions.
They found that information from the MRA scan helped them plan the optimal x-ray tube angle for the angiography system used to guide UAE, thus avoiding the need to reposition the system during the procedure and cutting both radiation and contrast dose. Read the article by clicking here, or visit the community at women.auntminnie.com.
Cutting triple-rule-out CT dose
Next up is research in our CT Digital Community showing how a group from the University of Washington in Seattle applied a prospective gating technique to whole-chest CT studies in an emergency setting.
So-called whole-chest or triple-rule-out exams are promising due to their ability to detect multiple emergent pathologies in a single exam, but their longer scan times can pack a radiation wallop. To address this problem, the researchers used a prospective gating technique to see if they could lower the dose.
They were successful in cutting dose, but how did the technique affect image quality? Find out by clicking here, or visit our CT Digital Community at ct.auntminnie.com.
