Relationship between body habitus and image quality and radiation dose in chest x-ray examinations : a phantom study

Al-Murshedi, SHM; Hogg, P; England, A

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the influence of being overweight on image
quality (IQ), radiation dose and acquisition parameters when undertaking
adult chest x-ray (CXR) examinations using routine acquisition protocols.
Methods: The Lungman chest phantom, with and without chest plates, was
used to simulate the chest region for larger size and average adult
patients, respectively. Radiographic acquisitions were conducted using 17
x-ray machines located in eight hospitals using their routine clinical
protocols. IQ was assessed using relative visual grading analysis (VGA)
and 2 alternative forced choice (2AFC) by six observers. Incident air
kerma (IAK) was measured using a solid-state dosimeter.
Results: IQ mean (range) scores between the hospitals were 16.2 (12.0 to
21.3) with a 56.0% difference and 20.9 (14.1 to 23.6) with a 50.2%
difference for the standard and larger size phantoms, respectively. IAK
mean (range) scores 63.38 μGy (19.28 to 136.29 μGy) with a 150.40%
difference and 159.20 μGy (27.43 to 384.73 μGy) with a 173.4% difference
for the standard and larger size phantoms, respectively. The chest plates
had a significant negative impact on IQ (P=0.001) and lead to an
increased in IAK by approximately 50.0%.
Conclusion: Visual measures of IQ and IAK showed large differences
between hospitals for standard and larger phantom sizes; differences
within the hospitals was lower. Overall, Lungman with chest plates was
found to degrade IQ and increase radiation dose by a factor of two.
Further optimisation is required especially for the larger sized
patient's imaging protocols for all eight hospitals.

Citation

Al-Murshedi, S., Hogg, P., & England, A. (2019). Relationship between body habitus and image quality and radiation dose in chest x-ray examinations : a phantom study. Physica Medica, 57(Jan 19), 65-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmp.2018.12.009

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 12, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Dec 25, 2018
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Dec 13, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 25, 2019
• Journal: Physica Medica : European Journal of Medical Physics
• Print ISSN: 1120-1797
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 57
• Issue: Jan 19
• Pages: 65-71
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmp.2018.12.009
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmp.2018.12.009
• Related Public URLs: https://www.physicamedica.com/