BACKGROUND: Iodine quantification using dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) is helpful in characterizing, and follow-up after treatment of tumors. Some malignant masses, for instance papillary renal cell carcinomas (p-RCC), are hard to differentiate from benign lesions because of very low contrast enhancement. In these cases, iodine concentrations might be very low, and it is therefore important that iodine quantification is reliable even at low concentrations if this technique is used.

PURPOSE: To examine the accuracy of iodine quantification and to determine whether it is also accurate for low iodine concentrations.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-six syringes with different iodine concentrations (0-30 mg I/mL) were scanned in a phantom model using a DECT scanner with two different kilovoltage and image reconstruction settings. Iodine concentrations were measured and compared to known concentration. Absolute and relative errors were calculated.

RESULTS: For concentrations of 1 mg I/mL or higher, there was an excellent correlation between true and measured iodine concentrations for all settings (R = 0.999-1.000; P < 0.001). For concentrations <1.0 mg I/mL, the relative error was greater. Absolute and relative errors were smaller using tube voltages of 80/Sn140 kV than 100/Sn140 kV (P < 0.01). Reconstructions using a 3.0-mm slice thickness had less variance between repeated acquisitions versus 0.6 mm (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: Iodine quantification using DECT was in general very accurate, but for concentrations < 1.0 mg I/mL the technique was less reliable. Using a tube voltage with larger spectral separation was more accurate and the result was more reproducible using thicker image reconstructions.