Effect of dose-reduced scan protocols on cardiac coronary image quality with 64-row MDCT: A cardiac phantom study

Dose level and corresponding image quality is relevant to the accuracy of stenosis evaluation on simulated coronary arteries with 64-row MDCT. In this study, we find relative low-dose protocols with acceptable image quality showed a tendency of overestimating stenosis. Furthermore, using a lower tube voltage and higher tube current to gain accurate imaging result is more applicable than other protocols with the same radiation dose level.