Table 1.
Contrast media protocols.
Fig 1.
Group averaged TAC’s adjusted to identical peak time for protocols A, B, C and D measured in the descending aorta.
Fig 2.
Fitted time attenuation curves of the aorta from a representative animal for protocols A, B, C and D. The dotted line at 100 HU represents the bolus tracking threshold level; the dotted line at 300 HU represents the diagnostic target attenuation. The diagnostic window (enhancement > 300 HU) is comparable for all protocols (7–9 s), and the bolus tracking delay time is shorter for protocols C and D than that for protocols A and B.
Fig 3.
Effect of the IDR on peak enhancement and time to peak in 70 kV CTA.
Correlation of peak enhancement and time to peak of the pulmonary arteries and aorta (for the different IDR of the CM injection protocols. The diagnostic window (t300 HU) and the bolus tracking delay time are given for the aorta and its main branches.
Table 2.
Peak arterial enhancement (HU, mean ± standard deviation) for injection protocol A-D.
Table 3.
Time-to-peak (s, mean ± standard deviation) for injection protocol A-D.
Table 4.
Statistical evaluation of peak enhancement (Peak), time-to-peak (TTP), the diagnostic window for an enhancement > 300 HU (t300HU) and the bolus tracking delay time (Delay Time): p-values for multiple comparison among injection protocols A-D.
Fig 4.
Relative HU-enhancement within the aorta for the different protocols at the optimal delay time.
Measurements were taken along a centerline of the aorta. The markers indicate the mean, the error-bars the variation between the different animals for each protocol.