Influence of additional filters on radiation dose during chest radiography.

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine the impact of using additional aluminum (Al) and copper (Cu) filters on radiation dose during the adult chest x-ray examination. Adult chest phantoms without and with different slabs of animal fat were used for simulating underweight, overweight, and obese patients, respectively. Phantoms were examined without and with various levels of extra Al and Cu filtering over a range of exposure parameters. A dose area product (DAP) meter was used to measure the radiation dose. Results demonstrated that radiation doses were significantly reduced (p=0.001) when applying extra filters compared with no filters for all of the different phantom sizes. The highest reduction in radiation dosage was 38, 41, and 42 percent for underweight, overweight, and obese phantom size, respectively, by 1mm Al+0.2mm Cu. In conclusion, the use of extra filters in chest x-ray imaging provides an optimal  dose reduction choice regardless of the thickness of the chest region to be radiographed. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.31257/2018/JKP/2022/140206