Dual-energy CT (DECT) is not new, in fact, says Benjamin Yeh, MD, it has been around just as long as computed tomography (CT) has. What is new is that CT scanners can capture DECT quickly and with good image quality. The benefits are mostly that it improves confidence and specificity for diagnoses. Like regular CT imaging, DECT provides 3-dimensional information about the size and shape of lesions, along with a fourth dimension in the form of X-ray density measured in grayscale Hounsfield Units (HU). Profoundly, DECT adds a fifth dimension of X-ray density across high-and low-energy spectra.
“With DECT, structures with different atomic make-up, such as iodine, calcium and dense blood or metal, are vividly differentiated,” said Dr. Yeh at the RSNA 2019 Annual meeting. “Even when objects have identical HU on a regular CT, with DECT different materials appear like different…
