Image quality is resilient against tube voltage variations in post-mortem skeletal radiography with a digital flat-panel detector

Notohamiprodjo, S.; Roeper, K. M.; Treitl, K. M.; Hoberg, B.; Wanninger, F.; Verstreepen, L.; Mueck, F. G.; Maxien, D.; Fischer, F.; Peschel, O. und Wirth, S. (2021): Image quality is resilient against tube voltage variations in post-mortem skeletal radiography with a digital flat-panel detector. In: Scientific Reports, Bd. 11, Nr. 1, 7701

Abstract

In recent phantom studies low-contrast detectability was shown to be independent from variations in tube voltage in digital radiography (DR) systems. To investigate the transferability to a clinical setting, the lower extremities of human cadavers were exposed at constant detector doses with different tube voltages in a certain range, as proposed in the phantom studies. Three radiologists independently graded different aspects of image quality (IQ) in a comparative analysis. The grades show no correlation between IQ and kV, which means that the readers were not able to recognize a significant IQ difference at different kV. Signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratios showed no significant differences in IQ despite the kV-setting variations. These findings were observed from a limited kV range setting. Higher kV-settings resulted in lowest patient exposure at constant IQ. These results confirm the potential of DR-systems to contribute to standardization of examination protocols comparable to computed tomography. This may prevent the trend to overexpose. Further investigations in other body regions and other DR-systems are encouraged to determine transferability.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Medizin
• Themengebiete: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften > 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
• ISSN: 2045-2322
• Sprache: Englisch