Fig. 4.

Bar Graph showing the subjective image analysis on 5-point scales (see text). The bars show the median score for each parameter, series, and iterative reconstruction. The error bars show the interquartile range (25–75p). a Overall image quality including the general quality, image sharpness, and motion artifacts. b Anatomical structures including pleural fissures, proximal bronchi and vessels (up to segmental), peripheral bronchi and vessels, and subpleural vessels (within 1 cm from pleura). Significant differences among the semi-quantitative scores for all parameters, series and reconstruction were recorded (Friedman, p < 0.00001). Post hoc analysis: (§): significant differences between DECT3 and LDCT at any ADMIRE; differences among LDCT were not significant. (†): differences between LDCT5 and LDCT0 were not significant. In all other cases, significant differences were found between DECT3, LDCT0, LDCT3, LDCT5 in pairwise comparison. DECT3: Dual-energy CT, ADMIRE 3. LDCT0: Low-dose CT with spectral shaping, Filtered Backprojection. LDCT3: Low-dose CT with spectral shaping, ADMIRE 3. LDCT5. Low-dose CT with spectral shaping, ADMIRE 5