Clinical implications
impaired kidney function, CM, kidney impairment
Regular optimization of CT protocols is crucial to adapt CM injection protocols to evolving scanner technology, which requires less CM, without compromising examination quality. Although our study focused on lower limb CTA, our results might apply to other vascular CT examinations. We have shown that it is feasible in everyday clinical practice to halve the iodine load with SDCT CTA and sustain or even improve examination quality compared to 120 kVp conventional CT. This may allow us to reduce the risk of PC-AKI, examine patients with more severe kidney impairment and provide higher quality examinations or salvage poor examinations when impaired kidney function limits the CM dose [In response to the ongoing global shortage of iodinated contrast media, DECT is one of the suggested approaches to reduce CM consumption. Although the number of DECT scanners are limited, and many facilities do not have access to DECT scanners, this might be expected to improve in the time to come.