Analyses of patient dose and image quality for chest digital radiography

Patient dose should be kept as low as reasonably achievable with satisfactory image quality in diagnostic radiology. Patient dose indices, i.e. entrance surface dose and dose-area product (DAP), were measured during routine chest examination procedures using TLD-100H TLDs and a DAP meter. Patient effective doses were estimated using WinODS software, patient data, and technical factors. In addition, chest X-ray images were assessed following the European Guidelines on Quality Criteria for Diagnostic Radiographic Images by three independent radiologists. Analyses were then performed for the typical adult Chinese (Taiwan) patients selected based on their body mass index (BMI). The high kVp technique was generally preferred due to the low patient dose and the acceptable overall diagnostic image performance in routine examinations. The high kVp technique is not ideal for patients with small BMI where the total image points within one standard deviation might be below an acceptable threshold value.