Unenhanced Helical CT Using Increased Pitch for Suspected Renal Colic: An Effective Technique for Radiation Dose Reduction?

Abstract

Increasing the pitch on unenhanced helical CT for suspected renal colic to 2.5 or 3.0 appears to be an effective method of reducing radiation dose. Although accuracy of the technique did not significantly change using a pitch of 3.0 in one group of patients, compared with a pitch of 2.5 in another group of patients, image quality did decrease.