Soft-Copy Quality Control of Digital Spot Images Obtained by Using X-ray Image Intensifiers

Abstract

To evaluate 12 x-ray image intensifier (XRII) digital spot systems. Four objective tests were performed to assess XRII digital spots: entrance exposure, patient exposure, soft-copy gray scale, and pixel noise. Two additional tests were performed to assess high-contrast limiting resolution and threshold contrast detection. Digital spot XRII entrance exposures averaged 1 x 10(-7) C/kg (0.38 mR) for units with large fields of view (FOVs); mean entrance exposure in a medium-sized patient was 1. 25 x 10(-5) C/kg (48 mR). Luminance measurements of the table-side monitors provided a mean of 473 just-noticeable differences in gray scale with the room lights off. Mean resolution with a bar test pattern was measured as 1.5 line pairs per millimeter for systems with a 40-cm FOV. Measured pixel noise (in relative units) was 6-25. Mean threshold contrast with the lights off was 0.85%. Once input exposure is normalized for FOV and image matrix size, soft-copy assessment of limiting resolution with either low-contrast detection or, preferably, an off-line noise metric (pixel SD) provides objective measurements of digital spot image quality. With the lights on, 10 systems with room-light sensors had an 11% loss of gray scale. For systems without sensors, the loss was 33%.