Publications
Body composition determinants of radiation dose during abdominopelvic CT
We designed a prospective study to investigate the in-vivo relationship between abdominal body composition and radiation exposure to determine the strongest body composition predictor of dose length product (DLP) at CT.
- Authors
McLaughlin PD, Chawke L, Twomey M, Murphy KP, O’Neill SB, McWilliams SR, James K, Kavanagh RG, Sullivan C, Chan FE, Moore N, O’Connor OJ, Eustace JA, Maher MM.
- Year
- 2018
- Journal Name
- Insights into Imaging
- Category
- Journal Article
- Link to Publication
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s13244-017-0577-y
Abstract
Objectives
We designed a prospective study to investigate the in-vivo relationship between abdominal body composition and radiation exposure to determine the strongest body composition predictor of dose length product (DLP) at CT.
Methods
Following institutional review board approval, quantitative analysis was performed prospectively on 239 consecutive patients who underwent abdominopelvic CT. DLP, BMI, volumes of abdominal adipose tissue, muscle, bone and solid organs were recorded.
Results
All measured body composition parameters correlated positively with DLP. Linear regression (R2 = 0.77) revealed that total adipose volume was the strongest predictor of radiation exposure [B (95% CI) = 0.027(0.024–0.030), t=23.068, p < 0.001]. Stepwise linear regression using DLP as the dependent and BMI and total adipose tissue as independent variables demonstrated that total adipose tissue is more predictive of DLP than BMI [B (95% CI) = 16.045 (11.337-20.752), t=6.681, p < 0.001].
Conclusions
The volume of adipose tissue was the strongest predictor of radiation exposure in our cohort.