Intraindividual Comparison of Dose Reduction and Coronary Calcium Scoring Accuracy Using Kilovolt-independent and Tin Filtration CT Protocols

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the ability of kilovolt-independent (hereafter, kV-independent) and tin filter spectral shaping to accurately quantify the coronary artery calcium score (CACS) and radiation dose reductions compared with the standard 120-kV CT protocol. Materials and Methods: This prospective, blinded reader study included 201 participants (mean age, 60 years ± 9.8 [SD]; 119 female, 82 male) who underwent standard 120-kV CT and additional kV-independent and tin filter research CT scans from October 2020 to July 2021. Scans were reconstructed using a Qr36f kernel for standard scans and an Sa36f kernel for research scans simulating artificial 120-kV images. CACS, risk categorization, and radiation doses were compared by analyzing data with analysis of variance, Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney test, Bland-Altman analysis, Pearson correlations, and κ analysis for agreement. Results: There was no evidence of differences in CACS across standard 120-kV, kV-independent, and tin filter scans, with median CACS values of 1 (IQR, 0–48), 0.6 (IQR, 0–58), and 0 (IQR, 0–51), respectively (P = .85). Compared with standard 120-kV scans, kV-indepen-dent and tin filter scans showed excellent correlation in CACS values (r = 0.993 and r = 0.999, respectively), with high agreement in CACS risk categorization (κ = 0.95 and κ = 0.93, respectively). Standard 120-kV scans had a mean radiation dose of 2.09 mSv ± 0.84, while kV-independent and tin filter scans reduced it to 1.21 mSv ± 0.85 and 0.26 mSv ± 0.11, cutting doses by 42% and 87%, respectively (P < .001). Conclusion: The kV-independent and tin filter research CT acquisition techniques showed excellent agreement and high accuracy in CACS estimation compared with standard 120-kV scans, with large reductions in radiation dose.