Dose reduction in thorax radiography in simulated neonates with additional filtration and digital luminescence radiography

Purpose: to determine the minimum acceptable radiation dose for an adequate image quality in thorax a.p. radiographs of neonates using mobile X-ray equipment Material and Methods: the influence of additional filtration (1.0 mm Al+0.1 mm Cu) on image quality and radiation dose was determined for the speed class 400 screen-film system (SFS) and digital luminescence radiography (DLR) by making radiographs of a test phantom. Conventional and digital thorax a.p. radiographs of a rabbit were produced using various tube current-time products. the quality of the rabbit radiographs was judged by eight radiologists applying image quality criteria according to the German guidelines and the recommendations of the European Community Results: the added filter resulted in a dose reduction of 39% at 66 kV. DLR gave a further dose reduction of 25% in comparison to the speed class 400 SFS while maintaining adequate image quality, i. e. the radiographs were clinically acceptable with regard to quality criteria Conclusion: the radiation dose resulting from thorax a.p. radiographs of neonates can be reduced by approximately 50% with the use of additional filtration and DLR