Facing Radiologists' Reluctance of a Degraded although Diagnostic Image Quality of Low/Ultra-low-dose CT: Our Experience

Abstract

The radiological community is endeavouring to raise the awareness about the radiation-induced cancer. Computed Tomography (CT) is the main source of medical irradiation. Manufacturers provided efficient technological tools on CT to achieve a significant radiation dose reduction while maintaining a diagnostic quality of the image. Yet, the implementation of all these improvements allowing the low-dose (LD) and ultra-low-dose (ULD) CT imaging has difficulty to take hold. Radiologists do not easily accept to read images with a degraded image quality although diagnostic. As every cultural change, even in a radiological department the acceptation of the LD/ULD-CT imaging requests time. Constant meetings with substantial exempla and constructive discussions among radiologists, without abrupt modifications to the CT protocols in clinical practice, are the key to the success.