While it's often helpful to have a quick 3D overview of the vasculature of interest in CT angiography examinations, this visualization is often hindered by the hyperdense bone structure, according to Marcel van Straten, Ph.D.
In his talk, Straten will present the study team's experience with evaluating a number of automated bone-removal techniques, including an approach that takes advantage of a dedicated tin filter available for the Somatom Definition Flash CT scanner (Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany).
The researchers performed a phantom study to evaluate available bone-removal techniques, quantifying image quality after bone removal for a given level of radiation dose for each technique. They found a large difference between the techniques for both dose performance and/or image quality, with tin filtration providing the best result.
"The key implications of our study are that, indeed, tin filtration improves dual-energy CT scans, and that a trade-off has to be made between image quality and dose when choosing the bone-removal technique to apply," Straten said.
