Radiation dose and image quality for adult interventional cardiology in Chile: a national survey

Abstract

The aim of this work was to investigate the differences in dose settings and image quality among 10 X-ray systems used for interventional cardiology in Chile. Entrance surface air kerma (ESAK) was measured on a phantom of 20 cm thickness of polymethyl methacrylate slabs. Image quality was evaluated using DICOM images of a test object Leeds TOR 18-FG for cine mode acquisition, through the numerical parameters signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), high-contrast spatial resolution (HCSR) and figure of merit. ESAK rate values for fluoroscopy modes ranged between 7.1 and 121.7 mGy min(-1). For cine mode, ESAK values per frame ranged from 63 to 400 µGy fr(-1). SNR and HCSR parameters for cine mode varied from 4.8 to 8.6 and 0.4 to 10, respectively. FOM values resulted from 6.9 to 64.5 among the different X-ray systems. Results show important differences between systems and point out the need to launch an optimisation programme.

Evaluation of patient dose during fluoroscopically guided cervical spinal fusion

“…and high contrast spatial resolution (HCSR) are the most common physical quantities considered by the most of the authors [124][125][126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137]. These are directly related to operator selectable parameters (fluoroscopy mode, field of view (FOV), geometric magnification, exposure factors, focus skin distance and collimation).…”

“…In general, such phantoms are used for dose and quantitative image quality assessment, as well as for performance testing of the fluoroscopic equipment . The characterization of the overall performance of a fluoroscopy system can be described by estimating a FOM, which combines image and dose indices during implementation of different operating modes [129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137]. However, only a few experimental data are available, considering the radiation dose and image quality indices during intraoperative fluoroscopy in spinal surgery [69,106].…”

“…For the task of imaging technique optimization, a FOM [129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137] was calculated, which is the ratio of SNR or HCSR to the corresponding radiation dose [495]. If the anatomic background is not an issue, then optimal imaging conditions can be identified by finding the methods that are based on homogeneous phantoms for optimisation studies, and suggest that their use should be limited to constancy checks [510].…”