LAUSR

The purpose of this study is to establish the relationship between the pixel value (I) of the CT localizer radiograph and water-equivalent thickness (tw) in a straightforward procedure. We used a body CTDI phantom, which was scanned in the AP and LAT projections. After transformation from the pixel values of the images to tw, water-equivalent diameter (Dw) and size-specific dose estimate were calculated on an anthropomorphic phantom and 30 patients retrospectively. We found a linear correlation between I and tw, with R2 ≥ 0.980. The Dw values based on the CT localizer radiograph were comparable to those calculated using axial images. The Dw difference for the anthropomorphic phantom between AP projection and axial images was 5.4 ± 4.2%, and between LAT projection and axial images was 6.7 ± 5.3%. The Dw differences for the patients between CT localizer radiograph and axial images was 2.3 ± 3.2%.