Assessment of thermal sensitivity of CT during heating of liver: an ex vivo study

作者：Pandeya G D^*; Greuter M J W; Schmidt B; Flohr T; Oudkerk M

来源：British Journal of Radiology, 2012, 85(1017): E661-E665.

DOI：10.1259/bjr/23942179

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the thermal sensitivity of CT during heating of ex-vivo animal liver. %26lt;br%26gt;Methods: Pig liver was indirectly heated from 20 to 90 degrees C by passage of hot air through a plastic tube. The temperature in the heated liver was measured using calibrated thermocouples. In addition, image acquisition was performed with a multislice CT scanner before and during heating of the liver sample. The reconstructed CT images were then analysed to assess the change of CT number as a function of temperature. %26lt;br%26gt;Results: During heating, a decrease in CT numbers was observed as a hypodense area on the CT images. In addition, the hypodense area extended outward from the heat source during heating. The analysis showed a linear decrease of CT number as a function of temperature. From this relationship, we derived a thermal sensitivity of CT for pig liver tissue of -0.54 +/- 0.03 HU degrees C-1 with an r(2) value of 0.91. %26lt;br%26gt;Conclusions: The assessment of the thermal sensitivity of CT in ex-vivo pig liver tissue showed a linear dependency on temperature %26lt;= 90 degrees C. This result may be beneficial for the application of isotherms or thermal maps in CT images of liver tissue.

• 出版日期2012-9