Photon-counting computed tomography enables low-dose, high-quality abdominal imaging: A comparative study with energy-integrating detector computed tomography

Figure 1 Patient enrollment flowchart. CT: Computed tomography; PCCT: Photon-counting computed tomography; EID-CT: Energy-integrating detector computed tomography.

Figure 2 Violin plot comparison of radiation dose parameters between the photon-counting computed tomography and energy-integrating detector computed tomography groups. A: Computed tomography dose index (mGy): Comparison of volume computed tomography dose index between the photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT) and energy-integrating detector computed tomography (EID-CT) groups; B: Dose-length product (mGy × cm): Comparison of dose-length product between the PCCT and EID-CT groups; C: Effective dose (mSv): Comparison of effective dose between the PCCT and EID-CT groups. CTDI_vol: Computed tomography dose index; DLP: Dose-length product; EID-CT: Energy-integrating detector computed tomography; PCCT: Photon-counting computed tomography; ED: Effective dose.

Figure 3 Violin plot comparison of objective image quality parameters between the photon-counting computed tomography and energy-integrating detector computed tomography groups. A: Signal-to-noise ratio; B: Contrast-to-noise ratio; C: Signal-to-noise ratio/(computed tomography dose index)^1/2; D: Contrast-to-noise ratio/(computed tomography dose index)^1/2; E: Noise ratio; F: Excellent image index. SNR: Signal-to-noise ratio; CNR: Contrast-to-noise ratio; CDTI: Computed tomography dose index; EID-CT: Energy-integrating detector computed tomography; PCCT: Photon-counting computed tomography; NR: Noise ratio; EII: Excellent image index.

Figure 4 Relative improvement in image quality of photon-counting computed tomography compared with energy-integrating detector computed tomography and overall radar plot. A: Median-based relative improvement of photon-counting computed tomography over energy-integrating detector computed tomography across objective image quality metrics; B: Radar plot of overall image quality metrics based on normalized median values. EID-CT: Energy-integrating detector computed tomography; PCCT: Photon-counting computed tomography; SNR: Signal-to-noise ratio; CNR: Contrast-to-noise ratio; EII: Excellent image index; CDTI: Computed tomography dose index; NR: Noise ratio.