• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.299-306
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• 2009

Purpose : To compare radiation dose for coronary CT angiography (CTA) obtained with 6 examination protocols such as a retrospectively ECG gated helical scan, a prospectively ECG gated sequential scan, low kVp technique, and cardiac dose modulation technique. Materials and Methods : Coronary CTA was performed by using 6 current clinical protocols to evaluate effective dose and organ dose in primary beam area with anthropomorphic female phantom and glass dosimetric system in 64 channel multi-detector CT. After acquiring topograms of frontal and lateral projection with 80 kVp and 10 mA, main coronary scan was done with 0.35 sec tube rotation time, 40 mm collimation ($0.625\;mm{\times}64\;ea$), small scan field of view (32 cm diameter), 105 mm scan length. Heart beat rate of phantom was maintained 60 bpm in ECG gating. In constant mAs technique 120 kVp, 600 mA was used, and 100 kVp for low kVp technique. In a retrospectively ECG gated helical CT technique 0.22 pitch was used, peak mA (600 mA) was adopted in range of $40{\sim}80%$ of R-R interval and 120mA(80% reduction) in others with cardiac dose modulation. And 210 mAs was used without cardiac dose modulation. In a prospectively ECG gated sequential CT technique data were acquired at 75% R-R interval (middle diastolic phase in cardiac cycle), and 120 msec additional padding of the tube-on time was used. For effective dose calculation region specific conversion factor of dose length product in thorax was used, which was recommended by EUR 16262. Results : The mean effective dose for conventional coronary CTA without cardiac dose modulation in a retrospectively ECG gated helical scan was 17.8 mSv, and mean organ dose of heart was 103.8 mGy. With low kVp and cardiac dose modulation the mean effective dose showed 54.5% reduction, and heart dose showed 52.3% reduction, compared with that of conventional coronary CTA. And at the sequential scan(SnapShot pulse mode) under prospective ECG gating the mean effective dose was 4.9 mSv, this represents an 72.5% reduction compared with that of conventional coronary CTA. And heart dose was 33.8 mGy, this represents 67.4% reduction. In the sequential scan technique under prospective ECG gating with low kVp the mean effective dose was 3.0 mSv, this represents an 83.2% reduction compared with that of conventional coronary CTA. And heart dose was 17.7 mGy, this represents an 82.9% reduction. Conclusion : In coronary CTA at retrospectively ECG gated helical scan, cardiac dose modulation technique using low kVp reduced dose to 50% above compared with the conventional helical scan. And the prospectively ECG gated sequential scan offers substantially reduced dose compared with the traditional retrospectively ECG gated helical scan.