Diagnostic reference levels of CT radiation dose in whole-body PET/CT

Ngoneh Jallow, Paul Christian, John Sunderland, Michael Graham, John M. Hoffman, Jonathon A. Nye

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

The role of CT in PET/CT imaging includes acquisition techniques for diagnostic, anatomic localization, and attenuation correction purposes. Diagnostic reference levels of the volumetric CT dose index (CTDIvol) are available for dedicated CT procedures on selected body regions, but similar reference levels for whole-body CT used in PET/CT examinations are limited. This work reports CTDIvol values from sites that conduct whole-body oncologic PET/CT examinations and participated in the scanner validation program of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Clinical Trials Network. Methods: From 2010 to 2014, a total of 154 sites submitted CT acquisition parameters used in their clinical 18F-FDG PET/CT oncology protocols. From these parameters, the CTDIvol was estimated using the ImPACT CTDI dosimetry tables. Histograms of CTDIvol values were created for each year, and descriptive statistics, incluDing mean, median, and 75th percentile, were reported. Repeated-measures ANOVA was performed to determine whether significant differences occurred between reporting years. Results: A wide range of technical parameters was reported, most notably in tube current. Between 2010 and 2014, the median CTDIvol ranged from 4.9 to 6.2 mGy and the 75th percentile from 9.7 to 10.2 mGy. There was no significant change in CTDIvol between reporting years (repeated-measures ANOVA, P 5 0.985). Conclusion: The 75th percentile CTDIvol reported in this work was 9.8 mGy averaged over all reporting years. These data provide a resource for establishing CTDIvol reference values specific to performing CT in PET/CT whole-body examinations. The wide ranges of CT acquisition parameters reported by sites suggest that CTDIvol reference levels may be beneficial for optimization of CT protocols.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)238-241
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Nuclear Medicine
Volume57
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Inc.

Keywords

  • CTDI
  • Dosimetry
  • PET/CT

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