Seminars in respiratory and critical care medicine
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Computed tomography (CT) is the core imaging modality for the evaluation of thoracic disorders. With the recently developed dual-energy CT (DECT) technique, the clinical utility of CT in the management of pulmonary diseases can be expanded. The most actively investigated principle of dual energy is material decomposition based on attenuation differences at different energy levels. ⋯ The second major possibility offered by DECT is virtual monochromatic imaging that represents a new option for standard chest CT in daily routine. In this review, imaging principles and clinical applications of dual-energy thoracic CT are described. Knowledge of the applications of DECT may lead to wider use of this technique in the field of respiratory disorders.
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Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Feb 2014
Chest radiography: new technological developments and their applications.
Digital chest radiography is still the most common radiological examination. With the upcoming three-dimensional (3D) acquisition techniques the value of radiography seems to diminish. But because radiography is inexpensive, readily available, and requires very little dose, it is still being used for the first-line detection of many cardiothoracic diseases. ⋯ Digital bone subtraction by a software algorithm mimics the soft tissue image normally acquired with dedicated hardware. Temporal subtraction aims to rule out anatomical structures clotting the image, by subtracting a current radiograph with a previous radiograph. Finally, computer-aided detection systems help radiologists for the detection of various kinds of disease such as pulmonary nodules or tuberculosis.
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Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Feb 2014
Comparative StudyChest tomosynthesis: technical and clinical perspectives.
The recent implementation of chest tomosynthesis is built on the availability of large, dose-efficient, high-resolution flat panel detectors, which enable the acquisition of the necessary number of projection radiographs to allow reconstruction of section images of the chest within one breath hold. A chest tomosynthesis examination obtains the increased diagnostic information provided by volumetric imaging at a radiation dose comparable to that of conventional chest radiography. There is evidence that the sensitivity of chest tomosynthesis may be at least three times higher than for conventional chest radiography for detection of pulmonary nodules. ⋯ However, motion artifacts can be a cumbersome limitation and breathing during the tomosynthesis image acquisition may result in severe artifacts significantly affecting the detectability of pathology. In summary, chest tomosynthesis has been shown to be superior to chest conventional radiography for many tasks and to be able to replace CT in selected cases. In our experience chest tomosynthesis is an efficient problem solver in daily clinical work.