Omar Aguilar Jr.
BME MS Thesis Defense Presentation
Date: 2025-11-25
Time: 3:30pm-5pm
Location / Meeting Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YjVmODYzZWEtYTNmZi00NjgxLTgzMjYtNGU5N2JjZGFhMjM2%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22482198bb-ae7b-4b25-8b7a-6d7f32faa083%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22026f3337-60b7-49a2-8aac-ffc1821d9679%22%7d

Committee Members:
Amir Pourmorteza, John Oshinski, Greeshma Agasthya


Title: Advanced Methods for Radiation Dose Reduction in Diagnostic and Interventional Computed Tomography

Abstract:
This thesis investigates complementary strategies to minimize radiation exposure while preserving quantitative and diagnostic integrity. Three studies form its foundation: (1) an ex vivo evaluation of coronary artery calcium scoring reproducibility in photon-counting CT, demonstrating that thin-slice reconstruction and z-start averaging mitigate partial volume effects; (2) an ultra-low-dose pediatric kidney stone analysis using spectral tin filtration and quantum iterative reconstruction, showing that sub-milligray imaging maintains geometric and attenuation accuracy with minimal bias; and (3) a large-scale comparison of pediatric brain CT between Siemens Force and NAEOTOM Alpha systems, revealing improved noise and contrast-to-noise performance at reduced dose in photon-counting CT. Together, these results establish a framework for dose-efficient CT protocols across cardiac, renal, and neuro-pediatric imaging.