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Radiographic Techniques
Radiographic Techniques
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PRINCIPLES OF IMAGING 300 0.05 15
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DENSITY
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• Amount of blackness on a given area of a radiograph
• kVp
• Also known as the logarithm of opacity or optical density (OD
• Directly controls the energy or quality of the x-rays produced
• Defined as the ratio of the amount of light incident on the
film to the amount of light transmitted through the film • Directly affects density though not in directly proportional
relationship
• Light incident may be bought as the light striking the
radiograph from the back, coming from the view box • Determines the penetrating ability of the x-ray beam
• Light transmitted may be thought of as the light that is seen • Penetrating ability of the x-rays also determines the number
coming through the radiograph while being viewed either by of x-rays exiting the patient to strike the film
the human eye or a densitometer
• As kvp increase, quality of the beam is increased, more x-rays
• OD = log 10 Light Incident penetrate the anatomical part.
• A result of exit x-rays and light rays from intensifying screens • Density is inversely proportional to the square of the
striking the film’s emulsion distance
• Made visible when the crystals in the film’s emulsion are • Governed by the inverse square law
converted to black metallic silver in the developer solution
• Old mAs = (New Distance) ² (mAso = Dn²)
• Density directly proportional to mAs
New mAs (Old Distance) ² (mAsn Do²)
• Has a numeric value
Film-screen combination
• can be present in varying degrees, from completely black, in
• Film is sensitive to green and blue
which no light is transmitted through the radiograph, to
almost clear • Directly proportional relationship with density
• high OD – too dark caused by overexposure • As speed (sensitivity) increases, density increases
• low OD – too light, little radiation caused by underexposure • As speed (sensitivity) decreases, density decreases
• controlled by 2 major factors: mAs and SID Grids
• Controlled by the following: • Decreases the amount of scatter radiation striking the film
• The number of exit rays striking the film-screen combination • Used for thicker structure, 10 cm and above
• The speed of the film-screen combination • 75 kVp and up
• Processing • Increases scatter radiation
Factors Controlling and Influencing Density Beam Restriction
mAs • Decreases density by limiting the size of x-ray beam unless
mAs is increased to compensate
• Controls the number of electrons passing from cathode to
anode in the x-ray tube • Limit patient exposure
• Controls the quantity of x-rays produced at the anode • Reduces amount of scatter radiation
• Controls the amount of radiation exiting the x-ray tube • Image quality is optimal because there is lesser radiation
• Directly controls the number of x-ray photons that will • Reduces patient dose
emerge from the patient as exit rays
Anatomy and pathology
• Directly controls the number of x-rays that eventually strike
the film-screen system as exit rays • Anatomy affects density through its variation of atomic
number, tissue thickness and tissue density
• Directly proportional to density
Anode heel effect
• Governed by the reciprocity law
• Concentrate to focus in thicker part and lesser to thin part
• Optical density remains the same no matter the length of • A phenomenon in which the intensity of the x-ray beam is
exposure greater towards the cathode side of the tube. The variation in
x-ray intensity along the longitudinal tube axis.
• If the mA is doubled, you need to half the the exposure time
• Anode heel effect refers to the lower field intensity towards
• 100 mA x 1 sec = 100 mAs the anode in comparison to the cathode due to lower x-ray
200 mA x .5 sec = 100 mAs emissions from the target material at angles perpendicular to
the electron beam.
• 400 mA x .25 sec = 100 mAs
500 mA x .2 sec = 100 mAs Filtration
• Applicable to direct screen exposure • Negligible effect on density, largely a radiation protection
accessory
mA Time mAs
• Filter light energy photon and drop the lesser energy photon • Any misrepresentation of an anatomic structure on an image
receptor that alters its size and/ or shape
• High contrast: few gray tones, mainly black and white • Magnification
• Low contrast: many gray tones on image; may also be • Caused by excessive OID
referred to as long-scale contrast
• Caused by insufficient SID
Factors Controlling and Influencing Contrast • Causes anatomic structure to appear larger on film than in
reality
• kVp
• Shape
• Directly controls contrast
• Elongation
• Controls differentials absorption of the x-ray beam energy
• Causes anatomic structure to appear longer than in reality
Grids
• Also known as subject contrast • Double emulsion film (also called duplitized film): coated on
both sides of base
• Control contrast with variations in the following:
• Single emulsion film: coated on one side of base
RECORDED DETAIL
• Consists of silver halide crystals suspended in gelatin
• Sharpness with which anatomic structures are displayed
Film Characteristics
• B. May be described as the geometric representation of part
being radiographed Speed ( sensitivity )
• C. May also be referred to as detail sharpness, definition or • Determined by the size and/or number of the silver
image resolution halide crystals and the thickness of the emulsion
Object-image distance (OID) • Determined by the size of the silver halide crystals and the
• Distance from the anatomic part being imaged to the image Thickness of the emulsion
receptor (usually film)
Latitude
Source-image distance (SID)
• Determined by the inherent contrast of the film
• Distance from the source of radiation (usually anode in the x-
ray tube) to the image receptor (usually film) Exposure latitude
• Portion of curve from 2.5 to maximum density (also called D- • Focused grids
max)
• Crossed grids
• Measures unusable densities on the radiograph (blackest
portion) • Grid characteristics
• May be used to determine the characteristics of a • Measure of grid’s ability to enhance contrast
certain film
• Grid selectivity
• May be used to compare the characteristics of
several films • Expressed as the ratio of primary radiation transmitted
through the grid to secondary radiation transmitted through
Film characteristics as plotted on H & D curves
the grid
• Speed (sensitivity): the closer the curve to the y-axis
• Grid conversion factor
the faster the film
• Also called Bucky factor
FILM STORAGE
• Amount of exposure increase necessary to compensate for
• Storage
the absorption of image-forming rays and scatter in the
• Temperature no greater than 68º to 70° F cleanup Grid motion