After performing a thoracic spine scan for trauma, the radiologist requests images to include the entire lumbar spine. This will require:

The correct choice involves retrospectively reconstructing images with a different display field-of-view (DFOV), which is crucial for providing a comprehensive view of the lumbar spine in addition to the thoracic spine initially scanned. The display field-of-view refers to the size of the area being displayed in the final images; modifying this allows radiologists to zoom in or out on specific anatomical regions without the need for rescanning or altering the data acquisition process.

In this case, since the radiologist wants to include a larger anatomical area—extending from the thoracic spine to the entire lumbar spine—adjusting the DFOV is an efficient method to achieve this. This approach helps utilize the existing data from the original scan, thereby maintaining the quality of images while extending the view to encompass the lumbar spine.

This option is optimal because it allows the necessary adjustments to be made to the images without inducing additional radiation exposure or requiring additional time for a new scan. It enables the clinical team to effectively visualize both the thoracic and lumbar regions from the same dataset.