RSNA 2022: CT preview

If you aren’t up to speed yet on photon-counting CT, you certainly will have a great opportunity to get there at the next week’s RSNA meeting.

Ever since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared Siemens Healthineers’ Naeotom Alpha device in September 2021, radiology has been abuzz with discussion about what the technique can offer compared to conventional CT — especially since the agency called photon-counting CT the “first major imaging device advancement in CT in nearly a decade.”

What’s so great about it? Advocates highlight the technology’s ability to produce images at a higher resolution but a lower radiation dose through a process in which x-rays are converted directly to electrons, rather than conventional CT’s two-step method, which consists of first converting x-rays to light and then to an electronic signal. Over the course of this year, researchers have touted photon-counting CT’s versatility, demonstrating that it performs well with everything from visualizing multiple myeloma and cerebrospinal fluid venous fistula better than conventional CT to helping to better diagnose interstitial pneumonia.

Research to be presented at the RSNA meeting will continue this lively conversation about the technology’s benefits in sessions that highlight its knack for improving perfusion imaging on chest CT angiography exams, boosting the image quality of pediatric chest imaging, and enhancing breast cancer studies. The RSNA will also be offering a number of primers on the technology, including a Sunday morning session that will give attendees an overview of how it works and why it’s great.

Research about photon-counting CT may dominate at the RSNA meeting, but there will be many other studies that highlight CT’s contributions to healthcare, including what CT findings a year post COVID-19 can show about patients’ lung health, how whole-body CT can help identify multiple myeloma lesions and track patient response to CAR-T Cell therapy, and how artificial intelligence (AI) makes low-dose chest CT even more efficient when it comes to reducing radiation dose.

CT is a proverbial workhorse in the radiology department, in part because it is such a versatile modality. To get a sense of what to expect regarding CT at the meeting, take a look at the scientific abstracts we’re highlighting as part of our premeeting coverage. You can also peruse the complete RSNA 2022 meeting program, which outlines the scientific, educational, and training sessions the society will have on offer. AuntMinnie