en Radiation Biology Radiation Biology مطالعه موردي Case Report <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Background:</strong> This study set out to evaluate the utility of cerebrovascular virtual non-contrast (VNC) scans. <strong>Materials and Methods:</strong> Conventional non-contrast (CNC) and dual-energy computed tomography angiography (DE-CTA) head scans were conducted on 100 subjects, of which 46 were normal, 15 had parenchymal hematomas of the brain, 13 had ischemic infarction, 22 had tumors, and 4 had calcified lesions. VNC images were extracted from the DE-CTA head scans by post-processing. The true (or conventional) and VNC images were compared in terms of the mean CT attenuation value and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the cerebral parenchyma, the image quality, the lesion detection sensitivity, and the radiation exposure level. <strong>Results: </strong>The image qualities of the CNC and VNC scans were (4.95 &plusmn; 0.22) points and (3.94 &plusmn; 0.24) points (t = 31.18, P < 0.05), the mean CT values for the CNC and VNC images were (34.6 &plusmn; 2.44) and (28.6 &plusmn; 5.40) HU (t = 10.126, P < 0.05), the SNRs were (9.45 &plusmn; 1.26) and (6.87 &plusmn; 1.77), and the HU for white matter was (t = 11.859, P<0.05), respectively. The effective radiation doses from the DE-CTA head scans and the conventional non-contrast scans were (8.55 &plusmn; 0.57) mSv and (9.41 &plusmn; 1.00) mSv, respectively. No significant difference in the lesion detection sensitivities was observed between the CNC and VNC scans, except for tiny calcified lesions, which could not be identified by a VNC scan. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> VNC and contrast-enhanced images could be obtained from DE-CTA head scans and could aid in the diagnosis of cerebral lesions. The radiation dose from the VNC scan was less than that from the CNC scan.</p> <p></p> Dual-Source CT, dual-energy, cerebrovascular angiography, virtual non-contrast scan, CT angiography 159 163 http://ijrr.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-614&slc_lang=en&sid=1 D. Han hdxjcn@163.com 790031947532846008083 790031947532846008083 Yes The First Hospital Affiliated Kunming Medical College, Kunming X.J. Xie 790031947532846008084 790031947532846008084 No The First Hospital Affiliated Kunming Medical College, Kunming L. Wen 790031947532846008085 790031947532846008085 No The First Hospital Affiliated Kunming Medical College, Kunming