Abstract
Objective: The purpose of the study is to evaluate radiographer practice with advanced digital radiography in terms of the values of exposure indices and deviation indices between hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: The study is based on PACS’ data of paediatric radiographic images limited to the chest and abdomen performed during the last year from four hospitals in Saudi Arabia. P-value was calculated to investigate any significant differences exist between the values of exposure indices and deviation indices of the images, which will be acquired from the DICOM file of image data.Results: Most of the paediatric radiographic images (54%) were underexposed, as these images had deviation index with less than -1 from four hospitals compared to expected results. However, in one hospital, 58% of the images were overexposed. The majority of the underexposed paediatric radiographic images were chest and abdomen radiographic exam (50% and 66% separately). Results also show that most of the underexposed radiographic images were using a grid (66%); on the other hand, in the overexposed radiographic images, 59% did not use the grid.Conclusions: The findings of the study show the need for radiographers for further knowledge and training courses to improve their performance in digital radiography and paediatric imaging.
Highlights
Digital radiography (DR), including computed radiography (CR), direct and indirect digital radiography systems, have the potential to improve the image quality of radiographic images while maintaining lower radiation doses to the patients [1]
The other problem that is associated with digital radiography systems is the dose creep which means that the radiographers, with the time, tend to unintentionally increase the exposure factors to reduce the quantum noise and produce better image quality [1, 3, 4]
MATERIALS AND METHODS The optimization of radiographer exposure practice in paediatric digital radiography was evaluated by accessing and evaluating data obtained from Picture Archive and Communication Systems (PACS) which was made available from four hospitals in Saudi Arabia
Summary
Digital radiography (DR), including computed radiography (CR), direct and indirect digital radiography systems, have the potential to improve the image quality of radiographic images while maintaining lower radiation doses to the patients [1]. The wide dynamic range of digital radiography systems allows radiographers to increase the radiation dose to the patient without noticing the increase in exposure factors, as radiographers still obtain good or better image quality. Radiographers need to adjust their practices and improve their skills to obtain optimized image quality of digital radiography while maintaining lower radiation dose to patients [5,6,7,8,9,10]. Different factors which influence EI, include patient size and body type, implants materials in body, collimation, detector, and image processing parameters [16]. In addition to these factors, each manufacturer has its own method to calculate and interpret EI. Different methods of calculating EI constrain the radiographers from greater understanding and limit the usage of EI as a tool for image quality optimization [8]
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