Dose optimization for different medical imaging tasks from exposure index, exposure control factor, and MAS in digital radiography.

In radiographic examination, not all medical imaging tasks require the same level of image quality or diagnostic information. Criteria should be established for different imaging tasks to avoid excessive doses where there is no clear net benefit in the diagnosis or the image quality. An exposure index provided by manufacturers would be a useful tool for this purpose. This study aims to establish an optimum exposure index to be used as a guideline for clinical imaging tasks to minimize radiation exposure for chest digital radiography. A three-level classification of image quality (high, medium, and low) for chest imaging tasks was carried out. An anthropomorphic phantom was employed to establish minimum exposure index and exposure (mAs) for clinical imaging task type I (corresponding to high image quality). The exposures of medium and low quality images derived from it. Thirty patients were exposed consecutively with these optimized exposure factors, and clinical tasks were considered, while another 30 patients were exposed with the exposure factors routinely used in practice. Image quality was assessed objectively by a consensus panel. The optimized exposure provided a significant reduction of the mean exposure index from 1,556 to 1,207 (p < 0.0001) and mean patient's entrance surface dose from 0.168 mGy to 0.092 mGy (p < 0.0001). The results show that a clinical-task-determined radiographic procedure is more conducive to radiation protection of patients. In this study, the posteroanterior chest imaging examination was chosen as an example. This procedure can also apply to other body parts and views.