Program Information

Attenuation-Based Size Adjusted, Scanner-Independent Organ Dose Estimates for Head CT Exams: TG 204 for Head CT

K McMillan

K McMillan¹*, M Bostani¹ , M Zankl² , J DeMarco³ , C Cagnon¹ , M McNitt-Gray¹ , (1) UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, (2) Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen GmbH, Neuherberg, Germany, (3) UCLA Department of Radiation Oncology, Los Angeles, CA

Presentations

MO-E-17A-8 Monday 1:45PM - 3:45PM Room: 17A

Purpose: AAPM Task Group 204 described size specific dose estimates (SSDE) for body scans. The purpose of this work is to use a similar approach to develop patient-specific, scanner-independent organ dose estimates for head CT exams using an attenuation-based size metric.

Methods: For eight patient models from the GSF family of voxelized phantoms, dose to brain and lens of the eye was estimated using Monte Carlo simulations of contiguous axial scans for 64-slice MDCT scanners from four major manufacturers. Organ doses were normalized by scanner-specific 16 cm CTDIvol values and averaged across all scanners to obtain scanner-independent CTDIvol-to-organ-dose conversion coefficients for each patient model. Head size was measured at the first slice superior to the eyes; patient perimeter and effective diameter (ED) were measured directly from the GSF data. Because the GSF models use organ identification codes instead of Hounsfield units, water equivalent diameter (WED) was estimated indirectly. Using the image data from 42 patients ranging from 2 weeks old to adult, the perimeter, ED and WED size metrics were obtained and correlations between each metric were established. Applying these correlations to the GSF perimeter and ED measurements, WED was calculated for each model. The relationship between the various patient size metrics and CTDIvol-to-organ-dose conversion coefficients was then described.

Results: The analysis of patient images demonstrated the correlation between WED and ED across a wide range of patient sizes. When applied to the GSF patient models, an exponential relationship between CTDIvol-to-organ-dose conversion coefficients and the WED size metric was observed with correlation coefficients of 0.93 and 0.77 for the brain and lens of the eye, respectively.

Conclusion: Strong correlation exists between CTDIvol normalized brain dose and WED. For the lens of the eye, a lower correlation is observed, primarily due to surface dose variations.

Funding Support, Disclosures, and Conflict of Interest: Funding Support: Siemens-UCLA Radiology Master Research Agreement; Disclosures - Michael McNitt-Gray: Institutional Research Agreement, Siemens AG; Research Support, Siemens AG; Consultant, Flaherty Sensabaugh Bonasso PLLC; Consultant, Fulbright and Jaworski


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