Role of dual energy computed tomography in management of different renal stones

To evaluate the role of dual energy computed tomography in renal stones. 40 patients (18 male and 22 female) with renal stones were included, their age ranging from 24 to 65years (mean age 33years), all patients were scanned first with a standard low-dose renal stone CT, then Dual energy CT examinations were performed by using a single-source dual energy with fast switching between two kilovoltage setting using 80kV and 140kV focusing on the region of the stone. Dual energy CT provide reliable distinction between uric acid, Ca oxalate and Cystine stones, it predicted chemical composition of the stones as 22 stones composed of calcium oxalate, 10 stones composed of cystine and 8 stones composed of uric acid. DECT failed to distinguish Ca oxalate from Ca phosphate in 4 stones also failed to identify the mixed composition stones in 3 stones comparing with result of crystallography after passage or extraction of the stone which misdiagnosed as ca oxalate stones. Dual-energy CT has been shown to be effective for characterizing chemical composition of the urinary stones and it will be replace helical non contrast CT as the standard imaging modality.