Beam quality optimisation for coronary angiography procedures in interventional paediatric cardiology : a phantom study

Abstract

Aims and objectives: 1. To observe actual clinical procedures currently used in the catheterisation laboratory and set up a simulated environment using a paediatric anthropomorphic phantom that reflects such procedures more faithfully than those in existing optimisation studies [1-7]; The setup also simulates the presence of contrast in vessels through the use of Tin. This material has been found to be a suitable surrogate in previous studies [7,8]. 2. To study the variation of Contrast-to-Noise Ratio (CNR), Entrance Surface Air Kerma (ESAK), Effective Dose (E), and defined optmisation Figures-of-Merit (FOM) as dependent variables with respect to tube potential, thickness of added copper filtration and anti-scatter grid (ASG) use or otherwise as independent variables for a number of clinically relevant beam angles; 3. To obtain a set of optimised beam quality exposure parameters for commonly used beam angles that maximize the FOM;