Abstract
In recent years, technological advances have allowed manufacturers to implement dual-energy
computed tomography (DECT) on clinical scanners. With its unique ability to differentiate
basis materials by their atomic number, DECT has opened new perspectives in imaging.
DECT has been used successfully in musculoskeletal imaging with applications ranging
from detection, characterization, and quantification of crystal and iron deposits;
to simulation of noncalcium (improving the visualization of bone marrow lesions) or
noniodine images. Furthermore, the data acquired with DECT can be postprocessed to
generate monoenergetic images of varying kiloelectron volts, providing new methods
for image contrast optimization as well as metal artifact reduction. The first part
of this article reviews the basic principles and technical aspects of DECT including
radiation dose considerations. The second part focuses on applications of DECT to
musculoskeletal imaging including gout and other crystal-induced arthropathies, virtual
noncalcium images for the study of bone marrow lesions, the study of collagenous structures,
applications in computed tomography arthrography, as well as the detection of hemosiderin
and metal particles.
Keywords
dual-energy computed tomography - crystal-induced arthropathies - metal artifact reduction
- bone marrow edema - iron
