TUESDAY, June 9 (HealthDay News) -- Implementation of a best-practice model for cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA) to diagnose coronary artery disease reduces the radiation dose without reducing image quality, according to a study in the June 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Gilbert L. Raff, M.D., from William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich., and colleagues compared the radiation dose from CCTA before and after implementation of a best-practice CCTA scan model in 4,995 sequential patients undergoing CCTA at 15 hospital imaging centers.
The researchers found that the estimated median radiation dose fell by 53.3 percent and the effective dose fell by 52.4 percent after implementation of the program. Low volume sites had the biggest reduction in dose. Median image quality assessment and the frequency of diagnostic-quality scans did not differ significantly before and after the program was implemented, according to the study.
"Consistent application of currently available dose-reduction techniques was associated with a marked reduction in estimated radiation doses in a statewide CCTA registry, without impairment of image quality," Raff and colleagues conclude.
Authors of this study reported financial relationships with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan, which funded the study; one author reported a financial relationship with the pharmaceutical industry.
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