ultra-low dose computed tomography imaging in quantifying bone trauma and disorders: a cross-sectional study

Background: x-ray computed tomography (ct) is a standard tool for diagnosing bone abnormalities. ct dose optimization is strongly recommended, due to the stochastic effects of x-ray. this study aims to assess the effectiveness of ultra-low-dose ct (uld-ct) imaging, reconstructed using an iterative reconstruction (ir) algorithm, in detecting bone trauma and disorders. methods: in the present cross-sectional study, 71 patients with ct requests for spine or extremity (limb) bone underwent scanning using standard dose (sd) and uld-ct protocols, in shahid faghihi hospital, shiraz, iran from june 2019 to june 2020. the sd and uld-ct protocols used 120 kvp and 80 kvp, respectively. the ct images were reconstructed using the standard and ir algorithms. ct dose indices, including the volume ct dose index (ctdivol), dose-length product (dlp), and effective dose (ed), were employed. to assess image quality, a five-point scoring system was used. the sensitivity and specificity of the uld-ct images were calculated. results: the findings indicated that uld-ct images accurately identified 113 out of 118 bone trauma and disorders. the quality of uld-ct images received “very good”, “good” and “acceptable” scores for both spine and extremity (limb) bones. the sensitivity and specificity of uld-ct images for bone trauma and disorders were 67%–95% and 100%, respectively, with about a 98% dose reduction. conclusion: the uld-ct protocol for bone imaging achieved a remarkable dose reduction, while the image quality was reported as acceptable. consequently, uld-ct images reconstructed using an ir are suitable and can be tuned further in the future for acceptable use in patients with bone trauma and disorders.