New app helps tailor pediatric CT radiation dose

A new Java-based application for Android devices allows neurosurgeons to tailor CT radiation dose for pediatric imaging and manipulate 3D models of the neuroanatomy of pediatric patients, according to an article published online August 21 by SPIE in the Journal of Medical Imaging.

Size is a particularly important factor for pediatric patients in CT imaging of tissues and structures, wrote a team led by Ehsan Samei, PhD, of Duke University Medical Center. So Samei and colleagues developed the application, which calculates CT dose according to patient size.

The researchers assessed radiation dose in terms of organ doses, effective dose, and risk index for 30 subjects in nine pediatric age-size groups. After also determining nodule detection accuracy, they used the results to set individual scan parameters for each patient group.

The resulting model can be used to optimize individual scan parameters and provide consistent diagnostic performance across the broad range of body sizes in children, the authors wrote.

The effect of reconstruction field-of-view size on the displayed diameter of a nodule. Image courtesy of Samei et al.