Radiographics : a review publication of the Radiological Society of North America, Inc
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Review Comparative Study
CT dose reduction and dose management tools: overview of available options.
In the past decade, the tremendous advances in computed tomography (CT) technology and applications have increased the clinical utilization of CT, creating concerns about individual and population doses of ionizing radiation. Scanner manufacturers have subsequently implemented several options to appropriately manage or reduce the radiation dose from CT. Modulation of the x-ray tube current during scanning is one effective method of managing the dose. ⋯ The dose modulation may occur angularly around the patient, along the long axis of the patient, or both. Finally, the system may allow use of one of several algorithms to automatically adjust the current to achieve the desired image quality. Modulation both angularly around the patient and along the z-axis is optimal, but the tube current must be appropriately adapted to patient size for diagnostic image quality to be achieved.
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The interpretation of magnetic resonance (MR) images of the pediatric brain may require consultation of an atlas to determine if a perceived finding represents an abnormality. However, most hard-copy atlases show only a few levels of the brain at selected points of time in myelination, and therefore a simultaneous comparison of different age groups is difficult with a hard-copy approach. The authors believe that a digital atlas of the normal pediatric brain may be a more efficient way to present this information and that correct interpretation of potential abnormalities may be facilitated by the online atlas they have created (available for free download from http://radiology.seattlechildrens.org/teaching/pediatricbrainatlas). ⋯ The software program used for viewing the atlas, written in C#, incorporates many features of a picture archiving and communication system viewer, such as linked scrolling and resizing. Simultaneous comparison of cases also is possible. The digital atlas facilitates learning about normal changes in the MR appearance of the pediatric brain, and it may be used during online interpretation of cases on a picture archiving and communication system.