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Fig. 5 | European Radiology Experimental

Fig. 5

From: Heavy metal in radiology: how to reliably differentiate between lodged copper and lead bullets using CT numbers

Fig. 5

The core-based 80/100 dual-energy index (DEI)max (a), the core-based 80/120 DEImax (b), the edge-based 100/120 DEImean (c), the edge-based 100/120 DEImax (d), the edge-based 120/140 DEImax (e), and the edge-based 120/140 DEImax (f) yielded statistically significant differences between the two groups of bullets (x-axis: Action 4 bullets, 1-3; QD-PEP bullets, 4-6; Hydra-Shok bullets, 7-9; 7.65 Browning bullets, 10-12). While large overlaps are visible for core measurements, the copper group visibly differed from the lead group in terms of the DEI calculated from edge measurements. Only the edge-based 120/140 DEImax resulted in a clear dividing line between the two groups of bullets (green dashed line). The Hydra-Shok no. 2 (bullet number 8 on the x-axis), which was separated from its jacket, yielded lower values than all other copper/zinc-jacketed lead bullets.

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