Dual-energy CT of the brain: Comparison between DECT angiography-derived virtual unenhanced images and true unenhanced images in the detection of intracranial haemorrhage

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic performance of virtual non-contrast (VNC) images in detecting intracranial haemorrhages (ICHs). Methods Sixty-seven consecutive patients with and 67 without ICH who underwent unenhanced brain CT and DECT angiography were included. Two radiologists independently e...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:European radiology 2017-07, Vol.27 (7), p.2690-2697
Main Authors: Bonatti, Matteo, Lombardo, Fabio, Zamboni, Giulia A., Pernter, Patrizia, Pozzi Mucelli, Roberto, Bonatti, Giampietro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Angiography
Angiography - methods
Brain
Brain - diagnostic imaging
Computed tomography
Conspicuity
Contrast Media
Diagnostic Radiology
Diagnostic systems
Female
Hemorrhage
Humans
Image contrast
Image detection
Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted
Imaging
Internal Medicine
Interventional Radiology
Intracranial Hemorrhages - diagnostic imaging
Male
Mathematical analysis
Medical imaging
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Middle Aged
Neuro
Neuroradiology
Observer Variation
Patients
Radiology
Readers
Reproducibility of Results
Retrospective Studies
Sensitivity
Sensitivity analysis
Sensitivity and Specificity
Statistical analysis
Tomography, X-Ray Computed - methods
Ultrasound
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objective To evaluate the diagnostic performance of virtual non-contrast (VNC) images in detecting intracranial haemorrhages (ICHs). Methods Sixty-seven consecutive patients with and 67 without ICH who underwent unenhanced brain CT and DECT angiography were included. Two radiologists independently evaluated VNC and true non-contrast (TNC) images for ICH presence and type. Inter-observer agreement for VNC and TNC image evaluation was calculated. Sensitivity and specificity of VNC images for ICH detection were calculated using Fisher’s exact test. VNC and TNC images were compared for ICH extent (qualitatively and quantitatively) and conspicuity assessment. Results On TNC images 116 different haemorrhages were detected in 67 patients. Inter-observer agreement ranged from 0.98–1.00 for TNC images and from 0.86–1.00 for VNC images. VNC sensitivity ranged from 0.90–1, according to the different ICH types, and specificity from 0.97–1. Qualitatively, ICH extent was underestimated on VNC images in 11.9% of cases. Haemorrhage volume did not show statistically significant differences between VNC and TNC images. Mean haemorrhage conspicuity was significantly lower on VNC images than on TNC images for both readers (p 
ISSN:0938-7994
1432-1084
DOI:10.1007/s00330-016-4658-y