151. Dual-Energy CT of the Thorax
- Author
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U. Joseph Schoepf, Felix G. Meinel, and Long Jiang Zhang
- Subjects
Thorax ,Materials science ,Lung ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,medicine.disease ,Pulmonary embolism ,Myocardial perfusion imaging ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Iodine uptake ,Tumor vascularity ,medicine ,Dual energy ct ,Perfusion ,Biomedical engineering - Abstract
In dual-energy CT, two CT datasets are acquired at different photon energy spectra. Because chemical elements vary in their attenuation properties at different photon energies, this allows to analyze the chemical composition of the imaged tissues and to extract or suppress individual chemical components. Dual-energy CT of the thorax makes use of this possibility in a variety of ways. The iodine distribution within the pulmonary parenchyma can be visualized to assess pulmonary perfusion. Inhaled noble gasses such as xenon and krypton are employed to image pulmonary ventilation. Iodine uptake of lung nodules has been investigated as a tool to distinguish between benign and malignant lesions and to assess tumor vascularity. Dual-energy CT myocardial perfusion imaging can visualize myocardial perfusion defects by displaying the iodine distribution within the myocardium. Dual-energy CT datasets also enable specific post-processing tools such as virtual non-contrast images, virtual non-calcium images, and virtual extrapolation to lower or higher photon energies, which have found promising applications for imaging the pulmonary vasculature, the aorta, and the spine. This chapter briefly reviews key technical aspects of dual-energy CT before discussing various established and investigational thoracic applications.
- Published
- 2016
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