Determination of Liver Volume Model of an Adult Ghanaian From Some Selected Health Centers for Clinical Applications and Dose Optimization

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite refinements in surgical techniques for liver transplantation, liver size disparity remains one of the most common problems in patients. The aim of this study was to establish a relationship between patient liver volume and their body parameters such as Body Mass Index (BMI), Body Surface Area (BSA) and Body Surface Index (BSI), measure the length of the liver in the midclavicular line and also perform dose optimization. The height and weight of patients undergoing for abdominal Computed Tomography (CT) scan were measured. The BSA, BSI and BMI were calculated using their respectively formulas. Using MeVisLab software and CT abdominal images each patient‘s liver volume and the length of the liver in the midclavicular line were measured. Using the SPSS and gender variation, statistical analysis was performed using the null hypothesis to ascertain if there exists a relationship between the calculated body parameters and their respective liver volume. Dose optimization was performed by predicting the effective dose (ED) to the patients even before they are scanned. This was achieved using the peak kilo voltage (kVp) and milli amperes seconds (mAs) to predict signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and ED to the patient. The average male and female liver volumes measured were 1.356 L and 1.363 L, respectively. The length of the liver in the midclavicular line for male and female were 15.70 ± 2.31 cm and 15.90 ± 2.53 cm, respectively. A model equation, Effective Dose = 36.1 − 0.325 × kVp + 0.2522 × mAs was achieved and a C# code was written with a Graphic User Interface (GUI) for easy clinical application.