Usefulness Evaluation of Water as an Oral Contrast Medium and Virtual Monoenergetic Images in Liver CT

Abstract

The usefulness of intake water as an oral contrast medium and MonoE(Virtual Monoenergetic Images) 50 keV of DECT(Dual Energy Computed Tomography) was evaluated in Liver CT. In order to compare water intake image and non-water intake image and MonoE 50 keV image of non-water intake data were obtained from 50 patients who underwent liver follow-up CT at our hospital from January 1, 2021 to June 31, 2022 at our hospital, using IQon Spectral CT (Philips Healthcare, Netherlands). In the same patient, compared to non-water intake image, both Water intake image and MonoE 50 keV image of non-water intake showed an increase in the average values of HU of portal vein, liver parenchyma, SNR, CNR. As a result of quantitative analysis using the paired-sample t-test of SPSS (Statistical Package For Social Science, IBM, US), showed a statistically significant increase in portal vein, liver parenchyma, SNR, CNR in all phases except for the liver parenchyma of Artery Phase. In particular, in the case of MonoE 50 keV, it was confirmed that SNR and CNR increased significantly. Both water intake as an oral contrast and MonoE 50 keV of DECT showed significant increases in SNR and CNR compared to when non-water intake. If MonoE 50 keV using DECT is applied to patients who are restricted water intake and difficult to intake due to poor general conditions, it is believed that the safety and convenience of patients will be increased, and the satisfaction of CT will be improved.