Application of the low-dose helical CT examination to neonate cranial disease

Objective To investigate the optimal radiation dose in helical CT scans for neonate brain patients.Methods One hundred and forty cases with suspected cranial disease were selected and divided into 7 groups randomly.Each group had 20 cases.The reduction of the tube current was to be the image standard dose(100 mA) and 6 kinds of lower dose scans image with tube current of 80,70,65,60,55,50 mA.In image quality evaluation,the determined lowest tude current was then validated using clinical scans.Radiation dose related parameters CTDIvol,DLP were also recorded.Results ① 50 mA conditions in an image quality evaluation results was poor,while other kinds of radiation dose were able to achieve the requirement in diagnosis.When the tube current was reduced to as low as 50,55 mA,the overall image quality was mostly fair.At the tude current dose of 60,65,70,80 mA,the majority of images were characterized as excellent or good.② In the clinical evaluation for neonatal cranial disease with the reduced tube current of 60 mA,the radiation dose related parameters CTDIvol,DLP was reduced by 40% compared with that of regular tube current.Conclusion The tube current of helical CT may be used as low as 60 mA in neonatal cranial disease to reduce radiation dose and keep the image quality diagnosable.