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EFFECT OF RADIATION DOSE LEVEL ON ACCURACY AND PRECISION OF MANUAL SIZE MEASUREMENTS IN CHEST TOMOSYNTHESIS EVALUATED USING SIMULATED PULMONARY NODULES
- Source :
- Radiation Protection Dosimetry
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Oxford University Press, 2016.
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Abstract
- The aim of the present study was to investigate the dependency of the accuracy and precision of nodule diameter measurements on the radiation dose level in chest tomosynthesis. Artificial ellipsoid-shaped nodules with known dimensions were inserted in clinical chest tomosynthesis images. Noise was added to the images in order to simulate radiation dose levels corresponding to effective doses for a standard-sized patient of 0.06 and 0.04 mSv. These levels were compared with the original dose level, corresponding to an effective dose of 0.12 mSv for a standard-sized patient. Four thoracic radiologists measured the longest diameter of the nodules. The study was restricted to nodules located in high-dose areas of the tomosynthesis projection radiographs. A significant decrease of the measurement accuracy and intraobserver variability was seen for the lowest dose level for a subset of the observers. No significant effect of dose level on the interobserver variability was found. The number of non-measurable small nodules (≤5 mm) was higher for the two lowest dose levels compared with the original dose level. In conclusion, for pulmonary nodules at positions in the lung corresponding to locations in high-dose areas of the projection radiographs, using a radiation dose level resulting in an effective dose of 0.06 mSv to a standard-sized patient may be possible in chest tomosynthesis without affecting the accuracy and precision of nodule diameter measurements to any large extent. However, an increasing number of non-measurable small nodules (≤5 mm) with decreasing radiation dose may raise some concerns regarding an applied general dose reduction for chest tomosynthesis examinations in the clinical praxis.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 17423406 and 01448420
- Volume :
- 169
- Issue :
- 1-4
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Radiation Protection Dosimetry
- Accession number :
- edsair.pmid..........78292e88bb29599cee899888a2720a80