A comparison between manual and artificial intelligence–based automatic positioning in CT imaging for COVID-19 patients

The authors of this study analyzed and compared the imaging workflow, radiation dose, and image quality for 127 adult COVID-19 patients who were examined using either the conventional manual positioning (MP) method or an AI-based automatic positioning (AP) method. The patients underwent chest CT scans using the manual positioning (MP group) for the initial scan, followed by an AI-based automatic positioning method for the second scan. The authors determined that the AI-based AP and centering in CT imaging is a promising new technique for reducing radiation dose and optimizing imaging workflow and image quality in imaging the chest.

Key points

• The AI-based automatic positioning (AP) operation was successful for all patients in our study.
• AP method reduced the total positioning time by 28% compared with the manual positioning (MP).
• AP method had less patient off-center distance and higher proportion of positioning accuracy than MP method, resulting in 16% radiation dose reduction and 9% image noise reduction in erector spinae.

Article: A comparison between manual and artificial intelligence-based automatic positioning in CT imaging for COVID-19 patients

Authors: Yadong Gang, Xiongfeng Chen, Huan Li, Hanlun Wang, Jianying Li, Ying Guo, Junjie Zeng, Qiang Hu, Jinxiang Hu & Haibo Xu

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European Radiology