Radiographics : a review publication of the Radiological Society of North America, Inc
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Computed tomography (CT)-guided interventions such as biopsy, drainage, and ablation may be significant sources of radiation exposure in both patients and radiologists. Simple CT techniques to reduce radiation dose may be employed without increasing the procedure time or significantly degrading image quality. To develop low-dose protocols, it is important to understand the key concepts of delivered radiation dose to patients and physicians during CT-guided interventions. ⋯ Representative examples of these techniques have resulted in dose reductions of as much as 89%. Alternative imaging technologies that do not use ionizing radiation, such as virtual and ultrasonographic guidance, may also be used to reduce radiation dose. Understanding dose contribution strategies to reduce radiation dose provides a safer, more efficient environment for patients and the radiology team.
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As a nondestructive method of historical and anthropologic inquiry, imaging has played an important role in mummy studies over the past several decades. Recent technologic advances have made multidetector computed tomography (CT) an especially useful means for deepening the present understanding of ancient cultures by examining preserved human remains. In April 2011, three ancient Egyptian human mummies from the Redpath Museum of McGill University were examined with 320-section multidetector CT as part of the IMPACT Radiological Mummy Database project headquartered at the University of Western Ontario. ⋯ The paleopathologic information obtained from the scans confirmed some findings in studies performed in the same mummies in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The CT scans also demonstrated a high degree of variability in Egyptian mortuary practice, variability that is not generally recognized in the literature. Unusual features that were observed included a relatively uncommon retained heart in mummy RM2718, retained lungs in a mummy from which the heart had been extracted (RM2720), and a cartonnage plaque placed over the left abdomen of a mummy that had been eviscerated transperineally (RM2717).