AEC set-up optimisation with computed radiography imaging.

Phototimer set-up is a critical procedure for dose and image quality optimisation in computed radiography (CR) systems. While a conventional radiography automatic exposure control device (AEC) can be calibrated in order to gain a constant optical density on the film independent of beam quality and patient size, CR detectors present a high dynamic range which allows a much larger dose interval, but with different image quality levels. CR leads to a less frequent exam repetition, but may produce quite noisy images if the exposure level on the plate is not correct. The aim of this work is to evaluate the performance of a CR plate (Agfa MD40) in order to optimally calibrate an AEC device. The plate response has been characterised in terms of digital signal, exposure on the plate and signal-to-noise ratio for different beam qualities, in a patient of standard size.