Aquilion one prism

All scans were performed using a 320 row multidetector CT scanner (Aquilion ONE PRISM; Canon Medical Systems, Otawara, Japan) with the following parameters: 80 row × 0.5 mm, pitch of 0.813, 0.6 s rotation time (fixed), 120 kVp tube voltage, and automatic exposure control with a noise index of 20. The standard care of abdominal CT in our hospital is the MBIR protocol (FIRST BODY Mild), which is designed for low exposure, with a mean volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) of 7.9 mGy. This value was obtained by retrospectively evaluating the doses of 125 consecutive patients prior to the start of this study. Iohexol (Omnipaque 300; Daiichi-Sankyo, Tokyo, Japan), iomeprol (Iomeron 350; Eisai, Tokyo, Japan), or iopamidol (Iopamiron 370; Nihon Schering, Osaka, Japan) was administered via an antecubital vein using a 20-gauge catheter at a dose of 600 mgI/kg; the injection procedure was standard across all patients. The scan delays for arterial and portal venous phase imaging were determined using an automatic bolus-tracking program (Canon Medical Systems). The region of interest (ROI) cursor was placed in the aorta at the level of the diaphragmatic dome, and scanning for the arterial and portal venous phases began automatically at 20 and 60 s, respectively, after the trigger threshold of 100 Hounsfield Units was reached.

Chest CT scan was performed with blocked inspiration using an Aquilion ONE PRISM (Canon Medical Systems, Okinawa, Japan) and the following parameters: tube voltage of 120 kVp and an automatic tube current modulation (SUREexposure^®), rotation time 0.5 s, pitch factor 0.81. Axial reconstructions were performed with a matrix size 512 × 512 with a hard convolution kernel FC35, appropriate for lung exploration, with 1 mm slice thickness and 0.8 mm slice spacing. The same procedure was used after contrast agent administration with a hard convolution kernel « bodysharp » 1 mm/0.8 mm and intravenous administration of Optiject 350 (Guerbet, Villepinte, France), 50 ml at a flow of 4 ml/s.