A pilot study of flash dual-source CT non-linear blending technique in optimizing cardiac image quality for overweight or obese patients

WANG Qingbo; DAI Hui; CHEN Meng; LI Yongchao; GUO Liang

Abstract：Objective To assess the value of non-linear blending technique in optimizing cardiac image quality with flash du-al-source CT dual-energy scan mode .Methods Thirty-six overweight or obese patients underwent cardiac contrast scan with dual energy mode ( DECT under Somatom Definition Flash Dual Source CT Scanner ) .Four different images were reconstructed for ev-ery patient.Group A: non-linear blending image 1(λ=150HU, ω=200HU), Group B: non-linear blending image 2(λ=70HU,ω=200HU), Group C:non-linear blending image 3(λ=260HU,ω=200HU), Group D: non-linear blending image 4 (λ=260HU,ω=400HU).The CT attenuation, standard deviation, signal-to-noise and contrast-to noise were measured and cal-culated at the root of ascending aorta , middle right coronary , left main coronary artery and anterior wall of left ventricular for all images.TWO-WAY ANOVA and TUKER test were performed to estimate objectively the image quality of every group .Results The differences of the CT attenuation , SD, SNR, CNR were statistically significant among four groups ( P <0.05), except for myocardium CT attenuation .The uppermost vessel CT attenuation was Group B , but there was no statistical difference with Group A.Group B had the lowest vessel SD , and there was no statistical difference with Group A .The lowest group of myocardium SD was C, and there was no statistical difference with Group A .Group A and B had the maximum SNR for vessels , and there was no difference between these two groups .Group A, C and D had the relative higher vessel SNR , and there was statistical difference with Group B.Group D had the minimum vessel SNR and minimum group of myocardium SNR was B .Group A had the maximum CNR for all anatomic sites , and there was no statistical difference between A and B .Conclusion Non-linear blending technique can select appropriate blending parameters (λ=150HU,ω=200HU), which can not only increase the contrast enhancement of coronary artery , but also suppress the noise of the coronary artery and myocardium , further increasing the TCNR of cardiac image .