Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale University and Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2022 Jul;23(7):e13582. doi: 10.1002/acm2.13582. Epub 2022 Mar 9.
This study presents a methodology to develop an X-ray technique chart for portable chest and abdomen imaging which utilizes patient data available in the modality worklist (MWL) to reliably achieve a predetermined exposure index (EI) at the detector for any patient size. The method assumes a correlation between the patients' tissue equivalent thickness and the square root of the ratio of the patient's weight to height. To assess variability in detector exposures, the EI statistics for 75 chest examinations and 99 abdominal portable X-ray images acquired with the new technique chart were compared to those from a single portable unit (chest: 3877 images; abdomen: 200 images) using a conventional technique chart with three patient sizes, and to a stationary radiography room utilizing automatic exposure control (AEC) (chest: 360 images; abdomen: 112 images). The results showed that when using the new technique chart on a group of portable units, the variability in EI was significantly reduced (p < 0.01) for both AP chest and AP abdomen images compared to the single portable using a standard technique chart with three patient sizes. The variability in EI for the images acquired with the new chart was comparable to the stationary X-ray room with an AEC system (p > 0.05). This method could be used to streamline the entire imaging chain by automatically selecting an X-ray technique based on patient demographic information contained in the MWL to provide higher quality examinations to clinicians by eliminating outliers. In addition, patient height and weight can be used to estimate the patients' tissue equivalent thickness.
本研究提出了一种为便携式胸部和腹部成像开发 X 射线技术图表的方法，该方法利用模态工作列表 (MWL) 中可用的患者数据，为任何患者体型可靠地达到预定的曝光指数 (EI)。该方法假设患者组织等效厚度与患者体重与身高比值的平方根之间存在相关性。为了评估探测器曝光的可变性，使用新的技术图表对 75 例胸部检查和 99 例腹部便携式 X 射线图像的 EI 统计数据进行了评估，这些数据与使用具有三种患者体型的传统技术图表的单个便携式设备（胸部：3877 张图像；腹部：200 张图像）和使用自动曝光控制 (AEC) 的固定射线照相室（胸部：360 张图像；腹部：112 张图像）进行了比较。结果表明，当在一组便携式设备上使用新技术图表时，与使用具有三种患者体型的标准技术图表的单个便携式设备相比，AP 胸部和 AP 腹部图像的 EI 可变性显著降低（p<0.01）。新图表获取的图像的 EI 可变性与具有 AEC 系统的固定 X 射线室相当（p>0.05）。这种方法可以通过自动根据 MWL 中包含的患者人口统计信息选择 X 射线技术来简化整个成像链，从而通过消除异常值为临床医生提供更高质量的检查。此外，患者的身高和体重可用于估计患者的组织等效厚度。
