Coronary artery calcium measurement with 64-slice MDCT: Comparison among 80, 100, and 120 kV tube voltages

The purpose of this study was to assess the optimum imaging and radiation dose on coronary artery calcium quantification with 64-slice multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) by using an anthropomorphic cardiac phantom. A cardiac non-moving phantom was scanned at various kV tube settings (80-120 kVp). A clear tendency was found for image noise to increase as tube kV decreases. No tendency was found for the calcium volume and mass score to vary with tube kV. Calcium measurements were not significantly affected by the choice of tube kV tube. The result of protocol setting of 100 kVp would be the best ideal scanning parameter in the study. The optimum scanning parameter was 100 Kvp, 250 ms, 75 mA, 1 mm collimation and the reconstructed image slice thickness of 1 mm. TLD-100s (thermoluminescent dosimety, TLD) were inserted into Rando phantom to evaluate the effective dose of each organ. The effective doses were 3.06 ± 0.20 mSv for females and 3.05 ± 0.20 mSv for males, respectively.