The use of 80 kV versus 100 kV in pulmonary CT angiography: An evaluation of the impact on radiation dose and image quality on two CT scanners

Highlights: • Widespread use of CT in investigating PE in pregnant and young female patients. • Significant dose reduction (up to 53%) when reducing kV from 100 to 80. • No compromise in diagnostic image quality in patients under 80 kg bodyweight. • Minor differences in image quality identified between different CT scanners. - Abstract: IntroductionUse of CT in the investigation of pulmonary embolism in radiosensitive patients such as pregnant and young female patients entails the need for protocol optimization. The aim of this study was to analyze the dose reduction and image quality achieved by using 80 kV instead of 100 kV in CT pulmonary angiography protocols.