Usefulness of Low-dose Nonenhanced Computed Tomography With Iterative Reconstruction for Evaluation of Urolithiasis: Diagnostic Performance and Agreement between the Urologist and the Radiologist

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of low-dose nonenhanced computed tomography (LDCT) with iterative reconstruction (IR) technique for urologists to detect urolithiasis by comparing diagnostic performance and interobserver agreement between the urologist and the uroradiologist. Patients and Methods We evaluated the 116 patients with urinary stones (n = 197) using both conventional-dose nonenhanced computed tomography (CT) using filtered back projection (CDCT-FBP) and LDCT-IR. Scans were interpreted for stone characteristics, objective image noise, and subjective image assessment. Diagnostic performance and interobserver agreement of LDCT-IR were assessed between 1 urologist and 1 radiologist. Results There were no significant differences in all stones. The average effective dose (mSV) in the all size groups was 5.92 (CDCT-FBP) and 1.39 (LDCT-IR), respectively ( P