Tantalum-specific contrast-to-noise ratio or conventional detector dose-driven exposure control in angiography: radiation dose and image quality evaluation in a porcine model

European Radiology Experimental

Table 4 Incident air kerma rate at the interventional reference point and average image quality of all three readers of fluoroscopic images acquired with detector dose-driven exposure control (DEC) and Ta-specific contrast-to-noise ratio-driven exposure control (CEC), while maintaining the incident air kerma rate

Mean WET (cm)	Dose level (DEC)	Incident air kerma rate at the interventional reference point			Average image quality
Mean WET (cm)	Dose level (DEC)	DEC	CEC	p value	DEC	CEC	AUC	p value
26	LD	6.6 ± 1.4	6.2 ± 1.3	0.003	2.6 ± 0.7	3.4 ± 0.7	0.82 [0.68–0.93]	0.018
	ND	15.8 ± 3.9	15.4 ± 3.8	0.216	2.9 ± 0.4	4.2 ± 0.5	0.97 [0.89–1.00]	0.014
	HD	28.8 ± 7.6	28.5 ± 7.5	0.147	3.3 ± 0.6	4.8 ± 0.4	0.98 [0.91–1.00]	0.017
31	LD	24.5 ± 5.1	23.5 ± 6.3	0.165	2.4 ± 0.8	3.3 ± 0.6	0.84 [0.64–1.00]	0.020
	ND	53.0 ± 4.4	50.8 ± 3.4	0.137	2.8 ± 0.5	4.4 ± 0.6	0.97 [0.89–1.00]	0.022
	HD	86.1 ± 4.6	81.0 ± 7.7	0.044	3.2 ± 0.6	4.6 ± 0.6	0.93 [0.79–1.00]	0.014
36	LD	60.7 ± 4.5	58.1 ± 7.1	0.182	2.1 ± 0.7	2.9 ± 0.8	0.85 [0.67–1.00]	0.019
	ND	86.4 ± 5.7	83.7 ± 6.7	0.163	2.4 ± 0.6	3.3 ± 0.7	0.85 [0.68–0.93]	0.011
	HD	129.4 ± 8.4	124.2 ± 14.1	0.212	2.8 ± 0.5	3.9 ± 0.7	0.93 [0.79–1.00]	0.014

Values are given as mean ± standard deviation. AUC Area under curve, CEC Contrast-to-noise ratio-driven exposure control, DEC Detector dose driven exposure control, LD Low dose, ND Normal dose, HD High dose, WET Water equivalent thickness