Affiliation:
1. Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, P.R. China
2. CT Research Center, GE Healthcare China, Beijing, China
Abstract
Objective To compare image quality and diagnostic accuracy of arterial stenosis in low-dose lower-extremity CT angiography (CTA) between adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction-V (ASIR-V) and deep learning image reconstruction (DLIR) algorithms. Methods 46 patients undergoing low-dose lower-extremity CTA were enrolled. Images were reconstructed using ASIR-V (blending factor of 50% (AV-50) and 100% (AV-100)) and DLIR (medium (DL-M), and high (DL-H)). CT values and standard deviation of the aorta, psoas, popliteal artery, popliteal and ankle muscles were measured. The edge-rise distance and edge-rise slope were calculated. The degrees of granularity and edge blurring were assessed using a 5-point scale. The stenosis degrees were measured on the four reconstructions, and their mean square errors against that of digital subtraction angiography were calculated and compared. Results For both ASIR-V and DLIR, higher reconstruction intensity generated lower noise and higher signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio values. The standard deviation values in AV-100 images were significantly lower than other reconstructions. The two DLIR image groups had higher edge-rise slope and lower edge-rise distance (DL-M:1.79 ± 0.37 mm and DL-H:1.82 ± 0.38 mm vs AV-50:1.96 ± 0.39 mm and AV-100:2.01 ± 0.36 mm, p = 0.014) than ASIR-V images. The overall image quality of DLIR was rated higher than ASIR-V (DL-M:0.83 ± 0.61, DL-H:0.41 ± 0.62, AV-50:1.85 ± 0.60 and AV-100:2.37 ± 0.77, p < 0.001), with DL-H having the highest overall image quality score. For stenosis measurement, DL-H had the lowest mean-square-errors compared to digital subtraction angiography among all reconstruction groups. Conclusion DLIR images had higher image quality ratings with lower image noise and sharper vessel walls in low-dose lower-extremity CTA, and DL-H provides the best overall image quality and highest accuracy in diagnosing artery stenoses. Advances in knowledge: DLIR provides high-quality images with sharper edges compared to ASIR-V during low-dose CTA of lower extremity arteries, and DLIR (high) provides the best overall image quality and highest accuracy in diagnosing artery stenoses among all reconstruction algorithms (ASIR-V and DLIR). ASIR-V with blending factor of 100% has the strongest noise reduction ability among all reconstruction algorithms (ASIR-V and DLIR); however, it generates the most blurred images.
Publisher
British Institute of Radiology
Subject
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging,General Medicine
Cited by
1 articles.
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