Efficacy of the spiral flow generating extended tube during paediatric CCTA

• Published in: Radiography (London, England. 1995) England. 1995), 2022-05, Vol.28 (2), p.420-425
• Main Authors: Masuda, T., Funama, Y., Nakaura, T., Sato, T., Tahara, M., Yamashita, Y., Yoshiura, T., Masuda, S., Gotanda, R., Arao, K., Imaizumi, H., Arao, S., Hiratsuka, J., Awai, K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child; Computed tomography; Computed Tomography Angiography - methods; Congenital heart disease; Contrast enhancement; Coronary Angiography - methods; Heart; Humans; Paediatric; Radiation Dosage; Spiral flow-generating tube; Tomography, X-Ray Computed - methods
• ISSN: 1078-8174; 1532-2831
• DOI: 10.1016/j.radi.2021.10.007

To compare the computed tomography (CT) number for paediatric cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and visualisation score of the three-dimensional (3D) images using the conventional T-shaped extended tube (T-tube) and spiral flow-generating extended tube (spiral-tube) connected between the contrast injector and cannula. In total, 108 patients suspected to have congenital heart disease (CHD) were considered for inclusion. We utilised the T-tube for intravenous contrast and spiral-tube in 54 patients each. Observers individually inspected randomized volume rendering images of the internal thoracic artery, each acquired from the with or without spiral-tube groups, using a four-point scale. We compared the mean CT number of the ascending aorta (AAO) and pulmonary artery (PA), contrast noise ratio (CNR), CT number for the AAO and PA enhancement ratio, and the visualisation scores between the groups. There were no significant differences in patient characteristics between the with or without spiral-tube groups (p > 0.05). The mean CT number ±standard deviation for the AAO and PA, and the CNR without or with spiral-tube groups were 441.2 ± 89.2 and 489.8 ± 86.1 HU for the AAO, 436.3 ± 100.6 and 475.3 ± 85.2 HU for the PA, and 9.5 ± 2.2 and 10.8 ± 2.4 for the CNR, respectively (p