ArticleBMC medical imaging2026
Infant and toddler's preoperative chest imaging on photon-counting detector CT: a paired-sample comparison with energy-integrating detector CT on image quality and radiation dose.
Article in BMC medical imaging, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPhoton-counting CT (PCCT) may improve dose efficiency compared with energy-integrating detector CT (EID-CT), but evidence remains limited in very young children undergoing non-contrast preoperative chest CT under real-world clinical protocols.
objectiveTo provide a size-aware matched comparison of radiation dose and image quality between PCCT and EID-CT in infants and toddlers (≤ 36 months) undergoing non-contrast preoperative chest CT, and to examine whether the main findings remained directionally consistent across prespecified strata of age, BMI, and water-equivalent diameter (DW).
methodsIn this single-center matched cohort study, a prospective PCCT cohort and a retrospective EID-CT cohort were propensity score–matched 1:1 (49 pairs). Dose metrics (CTDIvol, DLP, SSDE) and objective and subjective image quality were evaluated, with subgroup analyses stratified by age (< 12 vs. ≥ 12 months), BMI tertiles, and DW tertiles.
resultsThe PCCT group showed significantly lower radiation dose metrics (CTDIvol, DLP, and SSDE) compared to the EID-CT group (P < 0.001). In terms of objective image quality, PCCT significantly reduced image noise in all lung lobes and consistently demonstrated higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) (all P < 0.001). Subjective image quality assessments showed no significant difference between PCCT and EID-CT (P > 0.05). Across prespecified age, BMI, and DW strata, PCCT remained associated with lower dose metrics and favorable objective image-quality trends, although these subgroup findings should be interpreted as exploratory.
conclusionIn this matched cohort of infants and toddlers undergoing non-contrast preoperative chest CT, PCCT was associated with substantially lower radiation dose and improved objective image quality compared with EID-CT, and no statistically significant difference was detected in subjective image quality scores between PCCT and EID-CT.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.