Extraction of tube current values from DICOM CT images for patient dose estimation

Medical Physics
Pei-Jan Paul LinRajeev Krishnapillai

Abstract

When CT examinations are conducted with automatic mA modulation (z-axis modulation), the tube current (mA) may vary from one CT slice to next, i.e., mA is no longer a fixed constant. Hence, patient dose calculation is no longer a straightforward process. The purpose of this article is to show how the mA information may be extracted from DICOM CT images without having to manually read off "mA values" from the displayed images one at a time. A statistical programming language called "R," which is capable of reading DICOM files, is employed to extract the mA values from a series of DICOM CT images. This task is carried out with a "script" designed to read the mA values from the DICOM CT images and generate a file in "delimited ASCII" format. This file can be imported into a spreadsheet program such as Excel (a Microsoft spreadsheet program) for further processing, calculation, and chart production. A CT examination of the chest was selected to carry out this operation for demonstration purposes. The "script" generated a delimited ASCII "file" which is a two column data sheet with the slice location and its corresponding mA values. After the file is imported into Excel for calculation, and with other pertinent scan parameters, the ...Continue Reading

Citations

Jun 27, 2012·AJR. American Journal of Roentgenology·Ioannis A TsalafoutasEfstathios P Efstathopoulos
May 12, 2018·Journal of Digital Imaging·Brad W GenereauxCharles E Kahn

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