COMPUTED RADIOGRAPHY

IMAGE ACQUISITION
Collimation
• When exposing a patient, the larger the volume of tissue being
irradiated and the greater the kVp used, the more likely it is that
Compton interactions, or scatter, will be produced.
• Whereas the use of a grid absorbs the scatter that exits the patient
and affects latent image formation, properly used collimation reduces
the area of irradiation and the volume of tissue in which scatter can
be created.
• Collimation is the reduction of the area of beam that reaches the
patient through the use of two pairs of lead shutters encased in a
housing attached to the x-ray tube.
• Collimation results in increased contrast as a result of the reduction
of scatter radiation .
• Through post-exposure image manipulation known as shuttering, a
black background can be added around the original collimation edges,
virtually eliminating the distracting white or clear areas.
• However, this technique is not a replacement for proper pre-exposure
collimation. It is an image aesthetic only and does not change the
amount or angles of scatter.
• There is no substitute for appropriate collimation because
collimation reduces patient dose.
Side/Position Markers

• If you have used CR image processing equipment, you already know that it
is very easy to mark images with left and right side markers or other
position or text markers after the exposure has been made.
• However, it is advisable that conventional lead markers be used the same
way they are used in film/screen systems.
• Marking the patient examination at the time of exposure not only identifies
the patient’s side but also identifies the technologist performing the
examination.
• This is also an issue of legality.
• If the examination is used in a court case, the images that include the
technologist’s markers allow the possibility of technologist testimony and
lend credibility to his or her expertise.
•
 Exposure Indicators

• The amount of light given off by the imaging plate is a result of the
radiation exposure the plate has received. The light is converted into
a signal that is used to calculate the exposure indicator number.
• This number varies from one vendor to another (The total signal is
not a measure of the dose to the patient but indicates how much
radiation was absorbed by the plate, which gives only an idea of what
the patient received.)
• The base exposure indicator number for all systems designates the middle
of the detector operating range. For the Fuji (Tokyo, Japan), Philips (
Eindhoven, The Netherlands), and Konica Minolta (Tokyo, Japan) systems,
the exposure indicator is known as the S or sensitivity number. It is the
amount of luminescence emitted at 1 mR at 80 kVp and has a value of 200.
• The higher the S number with these systems, the lower the exposure. For
example, an S number of 400 is half the exposure of an S number of 200,
and an S number of 100 is twice the exposure of an S number of 200.
• The numbers have an inverse relationship to the amount of exposure so
that each change of 200 results in a change in exposure by a factor of 2.
• Kodak (Rochester, NY) uses exposure index (EI) as the exposure
indicator. A 1-mR exposure at 80 kVp combined with
aluminum/copper filtration yields an EI number of 2000. An EI
number plus 300 (EI + 300) is equal to a doubling of exposure, and an
EI number of –300 is equal to halving the exposure.
• The numbers for the Kodak system have a direct relationship to the
amount of exposure, so that each change of 300 results in change in
exposure by a factor of 2.
• This is a direct relationship: the higher the exposure index, the
higher the exposure.
• The term for exposure indicator in an Agfa (Mortsel, Belgium) system
is the logarithm of the median exposure (lgM
• An exposure of 20 μGy at 75 kVp with copper filtration yields a lgM
number of 2.6.
• Each step of 0.3 above or below 2.6 equals an exposure factor of 2. A
lgM of 2.9 equals twice the exposure of 2.6 lgM, and a lgM of 2.3
equals an exposure half that of 2.6. The relationship between
exposure and lgM is direct.
 Dynamic range

• Def- range of receptor exposures over which an image and

optimum contrast will be formed
• Also reffered to as latitude
• Film has a limited dynamic range
Dynamic range in CR
• Excellent receptor linear response to the intensity of
X-ray.
• Information is available in high and low exposure
regions too.
• Wider