Rotzinger DC, et al. - In this investigation involving 22 patients (mean age, 61 ± 20 years), researchers tested the ability of a newly developed method of material decomposition from contrast-enhanced dual-energy CT images to better visualize the aortic wall and aortic intramural hematoma (IMH) vs true non-contrast (TNC) CT. Data reported that diagnostic quality scores in normal aortic segments were 0.9 ± 0.3 and 2.7 ± 0.6 and wall conspicuity scores were 0.7 ± 0.5 and 1.8 ± 0.3 on TNC and dark-blood images, respectively. CNRs were 0.3 ± 0.2 and 2.8 ± 0.9 on TNC and dark-blood images, respectively, in normal aortic segments. CNRs were 0.3 ± 0.2 and 4.0 ± 1.0 on TNC and dark-blood images, respectively, in aortic segments with IMH. Dark-blood material decomposition maps improve quantitative and qualitative image quality for normal aortic wall and IMH assessment compared with true non-contrast CT.