Purpose: Determination of an adequate scan delay for routine abdominal 64-slice CT examinations with body weight-adapted contrast application.
Materials and methods: 57 patients underwent abdominal CT with a 64-slice scanner. The contrast material was adapted to patient body weight. All patients were randomized into five groups with varying scan delay and scan direction (group 1: delay 65 sec; group 2: 75 sec; group 3: 85 sec, craniocaudal; group 4: 85 sec, caudocranial; group 5: 95 sec). Two blinded radiologists evaluated the image quality. CT values (HU) were obtained in different segments of the aorta, inferior vena cava, iliac veins, portal vein, hepatic veins and liver, spleen and pancreas. Statistical analysis was performed using the independent sample t-test and ANOVA test.
Results: The diagnostic acceptability of protocols 3 and 4 were rated equally good and significantly/substantially superior to protocol 1 (p = 0.004/0.008) and protocol 5, respectively. Contrast enhancement in the aorta and portal vein peaked at 65 sec. Contrast enhancement in the hepatic and iliac veins peaked at 85 sec independently of the scan direction but was substantially lower at 75 sec. Liver parenchyma enhancement was lowest at 95 sec.
Conclusion: This data suggests an optimal scan delay for routine abdominal 64-slice CT of 85 sec regardless of scan direction.