Management of pediatric radiation dose using GE's Revolution digital radiography systems.

Digital flat-panel x-ray detectors offer excellent image quality and dose efficiency in addition to clinical productivity, connectivity, and adaptability to advanced clinical applications. GE's Revolution systems provide two modes of exposure control for setting the dose operating point, fixed time and automatic exposure control, the latter of which maintains high image signal-to-noise ratio for the given technique settings. In addition to enhancing detail contrast and compressing the dynamic range, postprocessing automatically determines the best window level and width for display, taking into account the dose at which the image was acquired. Several studies have examined the reduction in patient dose achievable with Revolution systems as compared to competing technologies, and results indicate significant dose savings with equivalent or superior image quality. For pediatric exams, pediatric default techniques provide for a lower patient dose as compared to adult techniques. Therefore, GE's Revolution systems can achieve a high image quality-to-dose ratio for pediatric imaging using the combined advantages of dose-efficient detection, advanced postprocessing, and independently adjustable pediatric techniques.