Assessment of correlated dose and sensitivity profiles on a multi-slice CT scanner

In the case of computed tomography (CT) scanners as well as other imaging techniques utilising ionising radiation, it is imperative that radiation is confined to the sensitive part of the image detector. Assuring this for a CT scanner requires detailed information about the scanner dose and sensitivity profiles and their spatial correlation. The profiles should ideally be co-centric and tightly fit to each other. Ensuring this inherent performance of the scanner can be seen as one of the fundamental steps in optimising diagnostic examinations with CT. A measurement device using a dedicated liquid ionisation chamber is employed to investigate the performance of a Toshiba Aquilion 16 scanner in this aspect. Dose profile and sensitivity profile pairs for four collimations are presented where each pair of profiles are spatially correlated to each other. The measurement device can be applied to any scanner for fast and accurate assessment of dose and sensitivity profiles and their spatial correlation. (authors)