• Eliel Ben-David, Jose E Cohen, S Nahum Goldberg, Jacob Sosna, Reuven Levinson, Isaac S Leichter, and John M Gomori.
• Department of Radiology, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, POB 12000, Jerusalem 91120, Israel.
• J Clin Neurosci. 2014 Sep 1; 21 (9): 1591-4.

AbstractWe aimed to determine whether 80 kVp conventional nonenhanced head CT scans have better gray-white matter contrast than standard 120 kVp scans performed on the same patients. Thirty head CT scans acquired at 80 kVp (CT dose index [CTDI]vol 46) were compared to prior studies in the same patients performed at 120 kVp (CTDIvol 59). Signal (Hounsfield units [HU]), noise (sd HU), and contrast-to-noise ratio per dose (CNRD) were assessed in multiple cerebral gray and white matter regions of interest. A noise correction factor was used to compensate for scanning at different CTDIvol values. Average gray matter signal at 80 kVp and 120 kVP was 33.9 ± 3.5 HU and 29 ± 4.6 HU, respectively (p<0.0001); the averages for white matter were 22.5 ± 3.1 HU and 21.6 ± 4.6 HU, respectively (p=0.11). Corrected noise was 3 ± 0.6 and 2.7 ± 0.6, respectively, for gray matter (p=0.0001), and 2.8 ± 0.6 and 2.6 ± 0.5, respectively, for white matter (p=0.00001). The gray-white matter CNRD was 4.0 ± 1.2 at 80 kVp and 2.8 ± 1 at 120 kVp (p<0.00001). Cerebral gray-white matter CNRD is increased by 40% at 80 kVp compared to conventional 120 kVp CT scans. These findings justify further clinical evaluation in the acute stroke setting.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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