New Method Achieves More Accurate CT Dose Estimates
A new imaging-based method could make it easier to estimate how much radiation a patient receives during a CT scan, while improving accuracy. Researchers say the approach performed strongly across several common adult scan types and could help overcome practical hurdles that have limited wider use of more personalized dose estimates.
CT scans are among the most widely used imaging tests, but estimating the radiation dose a patient receives isn’t straightforward. People differ widely in body size and anatomy, and common CT dose measures don’t fully reflect those differences. This means two patients can have different real dose exposure even when the scanner reports similar values.
More personalized dose estimates are possible by factoring in how much a person’s body absorbs or “blocks” X-rays. However, doing this accurately often requires measurements on every image slice from a scan, which can be slow and difficult to fit into everyday clinical workflows. Because of that, some sites rely on quicker shortcuts, such as using just a single middle image, which may be less accurate.
To simplify the process, investigators created a method called the “slice-averaged image approach.” Instead of analyzing every slice one by one, the technique combines information from all slices into one averaged image that represents the whole scan. This single image is then used to calculate a more patient-specific dose estimate, while cutting down the time and effort required.
Study results
The researchers reviewed CT scans from 282 adult patients covering three scan regions: chest, abdomen–pelvis, and combined chest–abdomen–pelvis. They compared dose estimates from the new method with estimates from a common shortcut method and with a more detailed reference method based on all slices.
Across all scan regions, the slice-averaged approach matched the reference method more closely than the shortcut approach, showing strong agreement and better accuracy overall.
If adopted, this method could help clinicians and imaging teams estimate CT radiation dose in a way that is more personalized than standard scanner metrics, but still practical enough for routine use.