Low-dose computed tomography: a solution for in vivo medical imaging and accurate patient-specific 3D bone modeling?

BACKGROUND: The number of in vivo clinical biomedical experiments based on computed tomography is increasing. International radiation-protection bodies are promoting the use of low-dose computed tomography to reduce radiation absorption by the subject undergoing imaging. On the other hand no data exist in the literature to quantify whether or not low-dose computed tomography would lead to a decrease of result quality when used for three-dimensional bone modeling and related measurements.
METHODS: This paper aimed at finding a consensus between minimal X-ray radiation of the subject, and satisfactory image data quality, especially for accurate three-dimensional bone modeling. Several standard computed tomography and low-dose computed tomography sequences were analyzed in three tests and statistically compared.
FINDINGS: Absence of significant difference between standard and low-dose computed sequences indicated that the low-dose setting would not produce less accurate three-dimensional models, while it decreased the effective X-ray dose up to 90% compared to standard settings.
INTERPRETATION: Low-dose computed tomography seems suitable for accurate three-dimensional bone modeling, while the related effective X-ray radiation is low. Such setting is therefore advised for any in vivo medical imaging aiming to collect bone data.