Contrast enhancement boost improves the image quality of CT angiography derived from 80-kVp cerebral CT perfusion data.

Rationale and objective: To investigate the impact of the contrast enhancement boost (CE-boost) technique on the image quality of CT angiography (CTA) derived from 80-kVp cerebral CT perfusion (CTP) data, and to compare it with conventional CTA_peak as well as other currently employed methods for enhancing CTA images, such as CTA_tMIP and CTA_tAve extracted from CTP.

Materials and methods: The data of forty-seven patients who underwent CTP at 80 kVp were retrospectively collected. Four sets of images: CTA_peak, CTA_tMIP, CTA_tAve, and CE-boost images. The CTA_peak image represents the arterial phase at its peak value, captured as a single time point. CTA_tMIP and CTA_tAve are 4D CTA images that provide maximum density projection and average images from the three most prominent time points. CE-boost is a postprocessing technique used to enhance contrast in the arterial phase at its peak value. We compared the average CT value, standard deviation (SD), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the internal carotid artery (ICA) and basilar artery (BA) among the four groups. Image quality was evaluated using a 5-point scale.

Results: The CE-boost demonstrated and CNR in the ICA and BA (all p < 0.001). Compared with the other three CTA reconstructed images, the CE-boost images had the best subjective image quality, with the highest scores of 4.77 ± 0.43 and 4.87 ± 0.34 for each reader (all p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Compared with other currently used techniques,CE-boost enhances the image quality of CTA derived from 80-kVp CTP data, leading to improved visualization of intracranial arteries.