Evaluating Size‐Specific Dose Estimate (SSDE) as an estimate of organ doses from routine CT exams derived from Monte Carlo simulations
Authors: Hardy Anthony James , Bostani Maryam , Kim Grace Hyun J. , Cagnon Christopher H. , Zankl Maria Agnes , McNitt‐Gray Michael 
Published: July 2021

Purpose

Size‐specific dose estimate (SSDE) is a metric that adjusts CTDIvol to account for patient size. While not intended to be an estimate of organ dose, AAPM Report 204 notes the difference between the patient organ dose and SSDE is expected to be 10–20%. The purpose of this work was therefore to evaluate SSDE against estimates of organ dose obtained using Monte Carlo (MC) simulation techniques applied to routine exams across a wide range of patient sizes.

Materials and Methods

Size‐specific dose estimate was evaluated with respect to organ dose based on three routine protocols taken from Siemens scanners: (a) brain parenchyma dose in routine head exams, (b) lung and breast dose in routine chest exams, and (c) liver, kidney, and spleen dose in routine abdomen/pelvis exams. For each exam, voxelized phantom models were created from existing models or derived from clinical patient scans. For routine head exams, 15 patient models were used which consisted of 10 GSF/ICRP voxelized phantom models and five pediatric voxelized patient models created from CT image data. For all exams, the size metric used was water equivalent diameter (Dw). For the routine chest exams, data from 161 patients were collected with a Dw range of ~16–44 cm. For the routine abdomen/pelvis exams, data from 107 patients were collected with a range of Dw from ~16 to 44 cm. Image data from these patients were segmented to generate voxelized patient models. For routine head exams, fixed tube current (FTC) was used while tube current modulation (TCM) data for body exams were extracted from raw projection data. The voxelized patient models and tube current information were used in detailed MC simulations for organ dose estimation. Organ doses from MC simulation were normalized by CTDIvol and parameterized as a function of Dw. For each patient scan, the SSDE was obtained using Dw and CTDIvol values of each scan, according to AAPM Report 220 for body scans and Report 293 for head scans. For each protocol and each patient, normalized organ doses were compared with SSDE. A one‐sided tolerance limit covering 95% (P = 0.95) of the population with 95% confidence (α = 0.05) was used to assess the upper tolerance limit (TU) between SSDE and normalized organ dose.

Results

For head exams, the TU between SSDE and brain parenchyma dose was observed to be 12.5%. For routine chest exams, the TU between SSDE and lung and breast dose was observed to be 35.6% and 68.3%, respectively. For routine abdomen/pelvis exams, the TU between SSDE and liver, spleen, and kidney dose was observed to be 30.7%, 33.2%, and 33.0%, respectively.

Conclusions

The TU of 20% between SSDE and organ dose was found to be insufficient to cover 95% of the sampled population with 95% confidence for all of the organs and protocols investigated, except for brain parenchyma dose. For the routine body exams, excluding the breasts, a wider threshold difference of ~30–36% would be needed. These results are, however, specific to Siemens scanners.