Material differentiation in forensic radiology with single-source dual-energy computed tomography

• Published in: Forensic science, medicine, and pathology medicine, and pathology, 2013-06, Vol.9 (2), p.163-169
• Main Authors: Ruder, Thomas D., Thali, Yannick, Bolliger, Stephan A., Somaini-Mathier, Sandra, Thali, Michael J., Hatch, Gary M., Schindera, Sebastian T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Criminology and Criminal Justice; CT imaging; Diagnostic equipment (Medical); Foreign Bodies - diagnostic imaging; Forensic Medicine; Forensic Medicine - instrumentation; Forensic Medicine - methods; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Observer Variation; Original Article; Pathology; Phantoms, Imaging; Reproducibility of Results; Tomography, X-Ray Computed - instrumentation
• ISSN: 1547-769X; 1556-2891
• DOI: 10.1007/s12024-012-9398-y

The goal of this study was to investigate the use of dual-energy computed tomography (CT) in differentiating frequently encountered foreign material on CT images using a standard single-source CT scanner. We scanned 20 different, forensically relevant materials at two X-Ray energy levels (80 and 130 kVp) on CT. CT values were measured in each object at both energy levels. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to determine intra-reader reliability. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to assess significance levels between X-Ray attenuation at 80 and 130 kVp. T test was used to investigate significance levels between mean HU values of individual object pairings at single energy levels of 80 and 130 kVp, respectively. ANOVA revealed that the difference in attenuation between beam energies of 80 kVp compared to 130 kVp was statistically significant ( p