{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]],"date-time":"2026-10-23T20:02:17Z","timestamp":1792785737161,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":12,"publisher":"IOP Publishing","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,22]],"date-time":"2026-10-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1792627200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":21,"URL":"https:\/\/publishingsupport.iopscience.iop.org\/iop-standard\/v1"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,22]],"date-time":"2026-10-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1792627200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":21,"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/info\/page\/text-and-data-mining"}],"funder":[{"name":"European Union-NextGenerationEU","award":["BG-RRP-2.004-0003-C01"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BG-RRP-2.004-0003-C01"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/019w4f821","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["iopscience.iop.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Biomed. Phys. Eng. Express"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Computed tomography (CT) plays an important role in oncologic surveillance after treatment of gynecological malignancies, including patients treated with vaginal electronic brachytherapy. This phantom study evaluated CT acquisition strategies for oncologic surveillance, focusing on radiation dose reduction and objective image quality in the cranial, thoracic, and upper abdominal regions assessed quantitatively. CT acquisition protocols were investigated using an anthropomorphic Kyoto Kagaku phantom. Two acquisition strategies were analyzed: a multi-scan approach with separate acquisitions for the head, neck, thorax, and abdomen-pelvis, and a single-scan head-torso acquisition with region-specific reconstructions. Different exposure parameter settings and reconstruction kernels were evaluated. Objective image quality was assessed using semi-automated region-of-interest measurements with a custom FIJI\/ImageJ macro. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and Artifact Index (AI) were calculated for cranial, thoracic, and abdominal regions. For the single-scan protocols, CTDIvol decreased from 4.21 mGy in the standard protocol to 2.97\u20133.99 mGy in the optimized protocols, while DLP decreased from 410 mGy.cm to 287\u2013388 mGy.cm. Across all anatomical regions, SNR and CNR remained comparable with the standard protocol. Thoracic CNR ranged from 2.68 to 3.01, abdominal CNR remained stable in both liver and aortic regions, and AI demonstrated only moderate variability across the optimized protocols. Optimized CT acquisition protocols reduced radiation dose while preserving the evaluated objective image quality metrics in the cranial, thoracic, and upper abdominal regions. Among the evaluated configurations, a reduced dose single scan head-torso acquisition using reduced tube voltage and tube current modulation showed a favorable balance between radiation dose reduction and objective image quality under the investigated phantom conditions and was identified as a candidate protocol for subsequent clinical and reader performance validation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1088\/2057-1976\/aeb383","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,13]],"date-time":"2026-10-13T22:48:07Z","timestamp":1791931687000},"page":"055063","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1088\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["CT protocol optimization for oncologic surveillance imaging: phantom-based comparison of multi-scan and single-scan acquisition strategies"],"prefix":"10.1088","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8357-7029","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Desislava","family":"Kostova-Lefterova","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical University-Pleven"},{"name":"National Cardiology Hospital"},{"name":"University Hospital Aleksandrovska"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9429-4593","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Filip","family":"Simeonov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Centre for Radiobiology and Radiation Protection"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Desislava","family":"Hitova-Topkarova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical University-Pleven"},{"name":"UMHAT \u2018Dr Georgi Stranski\u2019"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7719-382X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Angel","family":"Yordanov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical University-Pleven"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Virginia","family":"Payakova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical University-Pleven"},{"name":"UMHAT \u2018Dr Georgi Stranski\u2019"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"266","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"bpexaeb383bib1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"619","DOI":"10.1148\/radiol.2303021726","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Strategies for CT radiation dose optimization","volume":"230","author":"Kalra","year":"2004","journal-title":"Radiology"},{"key":"bpexaeb383bib2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2078","DOI":"10.1001\/archinternmed.2009.427","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Radiation dose associated with common computed tomography examinations and the associated lifetime attributable risk of cancer","volume":"169","author":"Smith-Bindman","year":"2009","journal-title":"Arch. Intern. Med."},{"key":"bpexaeb383bib3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"175","DOI":"10.1148\/radiol.2511081296","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Cumulative radiation exposure, and associated radiation-induced cancer risks from CT of adults","volume":"251","author":"Sodickson","year":"2009","journal-title":"Radiology"},{"key":"bpexaeb383bib4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1380","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mayocp.2015.07.011","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Answers to common questions about the use and safety of CT scans","volume":"90","author":"McCollough","year":"2015","journal-title":"Mayo Clin. Proc."},{"key":"bpexaeb383bib5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"429","DOI":"10.1007\/s11547-024-01790-2","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Body CT examinations in oncologic patients: the impact of subspecialty radiology on radiation exposure in the clinical practice. A quality care study","volume":"129","author":"Rizzo","year":"2024","journal-title":"Radiol. Med."},{"key":"bpexaeb383bib6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fonc.2021.769295","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Ultra-low-dose whole-body computed tomography protocol optimization for patients with plasma cell disorders: diagnostic accuracy and effective dose analysis from a reference center","volume":"11","author":"Tore","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front. Oncol."},{"key":"bpexaeb383bib7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"158","DOI":"10.1002\/acm2.13466","type":"journal-article","article-title":"The ultrafast, high-pitch turbo FLASH mode of third-generation dual-source CT: effect of different pitch and corresponding SFOV on image quality in a phantom study","volume":"22","author":"Zhou","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Appl. Clin. Med. Phys."},{"key":"bpexaeb383bib8","author":"IEC 60601-2-44","year":"2019","type":"book"},{"key":"bpexaeb383bib9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"676","DOI":"10.1038\/nmeth.2019","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Fiji: an open-source platform for biological-image analysis","volume":"9","author":"Schindelin","year":"2012","journal-title":"Nat. Methods"},{"key":"bpexaeb383bib10","author":"MedCalc Software Ltd","year":"2026","type":"web-resource"},{"key":"bpexaeb383bib11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tranon.2025.102326","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Radiation from frequent whole-body CT scans induces systemic immunosuppression and immune activation of tumor tissue","volume":"54","author":"Dong","year":"2025","journal-title":"Transl. Oncol."},{"key":"bpexaeb383bib12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"549","DOI":"10.1007\/s00256-019-03292-z","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Organ dose and total effective dose of whole-body CT in multiple myeloma patients","volume":"49","author":"Hemke","year":"2020","journal-title":"Skeletal Radiol."}],"container-title":["Biomedical Physics &amp; Engineering Express"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/2057-1976\/aeb383","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"am","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/2057-1976\/aeb383\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"am","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/2057-1976\/aeb383","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/2057-1976\/aeb383\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/2057-1976\/aeb383\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"am","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/2057-1976\/aeb383\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/2057-1976\/aeb383\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"am","intended-application":"similarity-checking"},{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/2057-1976\/aeb383\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,22]],"date-time":"2026-10-22T10:10:22Z","timestamp":1792663822000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/2057-1976\/aeb383"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]]},"references-count":12,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,22]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1088\/2057-1976\/aeb383","relation":{},"ISSN":["2057-1976"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2057-1976","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]]},"assertion":[{"value":"CT protocol optimization for oncologic surveillance imaging: phantom-based comparison of multi-scan and single-scan acquisition strategies","name":"article_title","label":"Article Title"},{"value":"Biomedical Physics & Engineering Express","name":"journal_title","label":"Journal Title"},{"value":"paper","name":"article_type","label":"Article Type"},{"value":"\u00a9 2026 IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights, including for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies, are reserved.","name":"copyright_information","label":"Copyright Information"},{"value":"2026-05-28","name":"date_received","label":"Date Received","group":{"name":"publication_dates","label":"Publication dates"}},{"value":"2026-10-13","name":"date_accepted","label":"Date Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_dates","label":"Publication dates"}},{"value":"2026-10-22","name":"date_epub","label":"Online publication date","group":{"name":"publication_dates","label":"Publication dates"}}]}}