Objective: To evaluate the clinical value of low-dose chest pain protocol for cardiac and chest vascular imaging using dual-source computed tomography.
Methods: 102 patients with requests for examinations of cardiac and thoracic blood vessels, were scanned in chest pain protocol for angiography. With heart electrical impulses dose control techniques, maximum tube current within the R-R interval was set up by different heart rate. Patients with a heart rate less than or equal to 75 beats/min were divided into two groups: regular-dose group (A) 28 patients; low-dose group (B) 25 patients. Patient with a heart rate of 76-120 beats/min were also divided into two groups: regular-dose group (C) 24 patients; low-dose group (D) 25 patients. The image quality of pulmonary artery, coronary artery and aortic were blind evaluated. The effective dose for each patient was calculated and group comparisons were made.
Results: Every radiation dose gained satisfactory images. No differences in image quality were found between Group A and Group B, and between Group C and Group D (P > 0.05). The effective doses of Group A (7.09 +/- 0.95) mSv were significantly higher than those of Group B (5.01 +/- 0.34) mSv. The effective doses of Group C (4.79 +/- 0.91) mSv were significantly higher than those of Group D (2.48 +/- 0.43) mSv. CONCLUSION; For patients with acute chest pain and relatively stable heart rate, their cardiac and thoracic vessels can be shown clearly in images of low-dose chest pain protocol, which provides a rapid and clear diagnostic instrument.