Simulated Dose Reduction for Abdominal CT With Filtered Back Projection Technique: Effect on Liver Lesion Detection and Characterization

Abstract

Radiation dose can be reduced by 25% without negatively affecting diagnosis of hypovascular liver metastases. Characterization of benign lesions, however, is impaired at DL75, which may lead to unnecessary follow-up examinations. Finally, increased image noise seems to affect the detection of small lesions to a degree that cannot be explained solely by the reduction in CNR.