A Third-Generation Adaptive Statistical Iterative Reconstruction for Contrast-Enhanced 4-Dimensional Dual-Energy Computed Tomography for Pancreatic Cancer

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to assess the objective and subjective qualities of the contrast-enhanced 4-dimensional dual-energy computed tomography using adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASiR) and ASiR-V. METHODS The virtual monochromatic images at 60 keV were reconstructed using filtered back projection, ASiR, and ASiR-V (10%-100%) for 14 patients with pancreatic cancer. The contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) was calculated, and the subjective measurements were compared based on a 5-point score scale. RESULTS The ASiR-V yielded a significantly higher CNR than ASiR (P < 0.05). The subjective image quality (peak) was significantly improved (P < 0.01) with ASiR (50%) (3.8, 3.5, and 4.0; overall image quality, tumor delineation, and noise, respectively) and with ASiR-V (50%) (3.9, 3.5, and 4.2, respectively) compared with the filtered back projection (3.2, 3.2, and 3.0, respectively). CONCLUSIONS The ASiR-V yielded higher CNR than ASiR and provided the highest subjective scores regarding the overall image quality.