Neck-chest-abdomen-pelvis Combined Enhanced CT in Breast Cancer Patients: Comparison between Dual-energy and Conventional Scanning Mode

Objective: To investigate the application value of dual-energy scanning scheme in neck-chest-abdomen-pelvis combined enhanced CT in patients with breast cancer patients by comparing with the conventional scanning scheme. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 40 female patients with breast cancer who underwent neck-chest-abdomen-pelvis combined enhanced CT in Beijing hospital, including 20 patients scanned by conventional protocol and 20 patients scanned by dual-energy protocol. The radiation doses in arterial phase and delayed phase were compared between the two modes. The image qualities were evaluated by measuring signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast noise ratio (CNR) and subjective scoring. Results: The radiation doses in arterial phase and delayed phase of conventional and dual-energy protocol were statistically different, and the radiation dose of dual-energy protocol was lower. There was no significant difference between the two modes in SNR and CNR of cervical arterial lymph nodes. There was significant difference between conventional and dual-energy mode in SNR and CNR value of axillary lymph nodes in thoracic artery phase. There was no significant difference in the subjective scores of conventional and dual-energy protocol of cervical lymph nodes. However, there was significant difference in the subjective scores of conventional and dual-energy protocol of axillary lymph nodes. The subjective score of dual-energy protocol was higher and the consistency of subjective score was better with Kappa value of 0.916. Conclusion: Compared with conventional scanning scheme, dual-energy scanning scheme for neck-chest-abdomen-pelvis combined enhanced CT shows lower radiation dose, simpler scanning process, higher patient cooperation degree, clearer display of axillary lymph nodes, which has important clinical application and promotion value.