Comparing the effect of different concentrations of contrast media in CT enterography

Objective: To explore the enhancement effect of different concentrations of contrast media on blood vessels and hollow organs in CT enterography. Methods: Sixty patients with CT enterography were enrolled from January to August 2019 at Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, and were prospectively randomly divided into three groups (group A: 90 ml 400 mg/ml contrast media, group B: 90 ml 350 mg/ml contrast media, and group C: 79 ml 400 mg/ml contrast media). Evaluation parameters included CT value, signal noise ratio (SNR) and contrast noise ratio (CNR) of main abdominal vessels (abdominal aorta, superior and inferior mesenteric artery, jejunal artery, ileum artery, superior and inferior mesenteric vein), jejunum, ileum and inflammatory bowel disease. The overall image quality and direct jejunum ileum artery quality scores were evaluated. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the parameters among the three groups. Results: There was no statistical difference in CT value, SNR and CNR of each measurement index among the three groups in plain scan (P > 0.05). The CT value, SNR and CNR of abdominal aorta, superior mesenteric artery, inferior mesenteric artery, jejunal artery and ileal artery in group A and C were higher than those in group B in arterial phase (P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference between group A and group C (P > 0.05). The CT value, SNR and CNR of superior mesenteric vein, inferior mesenteric vein, normal jejunum, ileum and inflammatory lesions in group A were higher than those in group B and C in venous phase (P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference between group B and group C (P > 0.05). The overall image quality scores of group A, B and C were (3.8 ± 0.7), (3.4 ± 0.6), (3.4 ± 0.6), respectively, with no significant difference (F = 3.075, P = 0.054). The direct jejunum ileum artery scores of the three groups were (3.5 ± 0.5), (3.1 ± 0.5), (3.4 ± 0.5), respectively, the difference was statistically significant (F = 3.684, P = 0.031). Conclusion: At the same injection rate and scanning parameters, contrast media at 400 mg/ml can provide better vessel and hollow organ enhancement. (authors)