Comparative study of the standard dose and low-dose spiral CT in detection of pulmonary nodules

Objective To compare the performance of the standard dose and low-dose scanning protocol in detecting the number and central and peripheral structure of pulmonary nodules at spiral CT.MethodsAll patients were undergone CT examination at the standard dose(200mA,collimation 5mm and 10 mm) and low-dose(25mA,collimation 5mm and 10mm).According to the size,the nodules were categorized as 5 mm,5～10 mm and 10mm nodules.The number and central and peripheral structure of the nodule were recorded and compared between the standard dose and low-dose scanning protocol groups.The statistical method χ2 test was used to analyze the performance between the standard dose and low-dose protocols.ResultsThere was no significant difference in the number,central and peripheral structure of the nodules detected by the standard dose from the low-dose spiral CT scanning.Conclusion The 25mA low-dose spiral CT scanning could provide adequate images to detect or exclude pulmonary nodules,thus,it might be used reliably in general examination of pulmonary nodules.