AJR Not a Member? Click to Join ARRS!
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Schertler, T.
Right arrow Articles by Boehm, T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Schertler, T.
Right arrow Articles by Boehm, T.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
AJR 2004; 183:83-89
© American Roentgen Ray Society

Effects of ECG Gating and Postprocessing Techniques on 3D MDCT of the Bronchial Tree

Thomas Schertler1, Simon Wildermuth1, Jürgen K. Willmann1, Hatem Alkadhi1, Borut Marincek1 and Thomas Boehm1,2

1 Department of Medical Radiology, Institute of Diagnostic Radiology, University Hospital Zurich, Rämistrasse 100, Zurich CH-8091, Switzerland.
2 Present address: Department of Radiology, Kantonsspital, Loestrasse 170, Chur CH-700, Switzerland.

OBJECTIVE. Our goal was to determine the impact of ECG gating and different postprocessing techniques on 3D imaging of the bronchial tree.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Retrospective ECG-gated MDCT and non–ECG-gated MDCT of the chest were performed in 25 patients. ECG-gated MDCT data were reconstructed mid diastole using a fixed interval of –400 msec in 25 patients and then additionally at –200, –300, and –500 msec in 10 of those patients. Shaded surface display and volume rendering of the bronchial tree combined with virtual bronchoscopy were performed using all data sets. The extent of bronchial tree visualization in shaded surface display–virtual bronchoscopy and volume rendering–virtual bronchoscopy and the presence of artifacts in volume-rendered images were scored by three blinded reviewers. The effective radiation doses of the ECG-gated and nongated acquisitions were compared.

RESULTS. The summary scores of all bronchial segments for gated shaded surface display–virtual bronchoscopy and gated volume rendering–virtual bronchoscopy did not differ significantly. The summary scores for nongated shaded surface display–virtual bronchoscopy and nongated volume rendering–virtual bronchoscopy were not significantly different. Non-gated acquisition yielded significantly better visualization of the bronchial tree for both post-processing techniques, regardless of the time interval used for reconstruction of the ECG-gated series. Artifact scores in volume-rendered images were significantly higher for ECG-gated MDCT compared with nongated MDCT. Effective radiation dose was significantly higher for the ECG-gated acquisition.

CONCLUSION. Given the advantage of volume rendering for representing the entire data set and given the lower radiation dose and better 3D image quality of nongated acquisition, volume rendering performed on nongated MDCT data is the method of choice for 3D visualization of the bronchial tree.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?




HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2004 by the American Roentgen Ray Society.