Technical reportAn Airway Phantom to Standardize CT Acquisition in Multicenter Clinical Trials
Section snippets
Materials and methods
A Plexiglas airway phantom was manufactured by Phantom Laboratory, Inc (Salem, NY), modeled after the Plexiglas phantom developed by Reinhardt et al (8) (Fig 1). The phantom models tracheobronchial airway sizes in children and adolescents with CF that are seen with inspiratory chest CT imaging. The airway phantom consists of eight Plexiglas tubes that are encased in a larger Plexiglas cylinder (Fig 1). The sizes of the tubes simulate tracheal, bronchial, and bronchiolar airway sizes encountered
Results
The actual simulated airway sizes for the eight Plexiglas tubes measured by the micro-CT scanner are provided in Supplement Table 1. To provide a means of comparison with actual quantitative CT airway morphology obtained from previous obtained contiguous CT scans in children with CF (aged 6–18 years), additional examples of airway sizes are provided in this table as well.
Discussion
In principle, the guideline for determining the technique for CT scanning protocols should be the “as low as reasonably achievable” principle. When applied to research studies, the dose should be chosen to be as low as possible while providing the information necessary to adequately address the research question. The determination of this adequacy may be difficult but will likely be easier when quantitative measures are used, because a level of error can be ascertained and then used to
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