Clinical value of spectral CT in diagnosis of negative gallstones and common bile duct stones

• Published in: Abdominal imaging Vol. 40; no. 6; pp. 1587 - 1594
• Main Authors: Li, Huanguo, He, Dong, Lao, Qun, Chen, Xingcan, Liu, Miao, Yin, Bingxin, Zhao, Kaiyu, Wang, Rui, Chen, Longxia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cholecystography; Common Bile Duct - diagnostic imaging; Female; Gallbladder; Gallstones - diagnostic imaging; Gastroenterology; Hepatology; Humans; Imaging; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Radiology; Reproducibility of Results; Retrospective Studies; Sensitivity and Specificity; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Spectral CT; Negative gallstones; Diagnosis; Bile duct stones
• ISSN: 0942-8925; 2366-004X; 1432-0509; 2366-0058
• DOI: 10.1007/s00261-015-0387-y

Objective To investigate the clinical value of spectral CT in diagnosis of negative gallstones and common bile duct stones primarily. Methods All patients diagnosed with negative biliary stones were analyzed and examined by spectral CT scanner retrospectively. Based on acquired raw imaging data, image series were reconstructed as described below: the optimal contrast-to-noise ratio monochromatic energy images, calcium- and fat- based material decomposition images and spectral curve images. All these imaging series were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Results The contrast between negative stones and adjacent bile was 6.87 ± 5.48 HU on hybrid energy CT images and 47.30 ± 24.05 HU on optimal monochromatic energy CT images. The mean concentration of calcium in bile and negative stones was 19.36 ± 5.12 and 3.88 ± 6.60 mg/mL, and the fat in bile and negative stones was 998.48 ± 11.79 and 1035.68 ± 15.36 mg/mL. Effective atomic number Z of negative stones (6.60 ± 0.45) was lower than that of bile (7.65 ± 0.13). The slopes of the spectral curves for negative stones were k 90–40KeV  = 1.43 ± 0.63 and k 140–90KeV  = 0.19 ± 0.08, and for bile, they were k 90–40KeV  = –0.27 ± 0.09 and k 140–90KeV  = –0.04 ± 0.01. The same stone showed different densities in different imaging groups. The positive rate of conventional CT images was lower than that of other imaging groups. Conclusion Spectral CT has a high diagnostic value for negative gallstones or bile duct stones, and material decomposition CT images and spectral curves can make an accurate diagnosis.