Chapter 11 – Equipment design for radiation protection
Radiation safety features of radiographic equipment, devices and accessories
All necessary measures must be taken to ensure that radiographic equipment
operates safely. Every diagnostic imaging system must have a protective tube
housing and a correctly functioning control panel or console.
The radiographic examination table and other devices and accessories also are
required to be constructed so as to reduce the patient’s radiation dose.
Diagnostic-type protective tube housing
Is required to safeguard the patient and imaging personnel from off-focus or
leakage radiation by restricting the emission of x-rays to the area of the useful or
primary beam.
X-Ray tube housing construction and functions
Does not exceed 1 mGy when the tube is operated at its highest voltage at the
highest current
It also serve as a shield against the high voltage entering the x-ray tube, thereby
preventing electric shock while also facilitating cooling of the x-ray tube.
Figure 11-1. A lead-lined metal diagnostic-
type protective tube housing protects
patients and imaging personnel from off-focus,
or leakage, radiation by restricting x-ray
emission to the area of the primary (useful)
beam.
Control Panel or console
Is where technical exposure factors such as milliamperes (mA), peak kilovoltage
(kVp), and exposure duration (mS) are selected and visually displayed.
For state-of-the-art operating consoles, digital controls for kVp and mAs are
available on a touch screen.
Radiographic examination table
Must be strong enough to adequately support patients whose weight is in excess
of 300 pounds.
FIGURE 11-2. Light-Localizing
Variable-Aperture Rectangular
Collimators
This system consists of:
Two sets of adjustable lead shutters
mounted within the device at different
levels
A light source to eliminate the x-ray field
and permit it to be centered over the
area of clinical interest
A mirror to deflect the light beam toward
the patient to be radiographed.
The first set of shutters, the upper shutters, are mounted as close as possible to
the tube window to reduce the amount of x-rays emitted from parts of the tube
other than the focal spot
The second collimator set of shutters, the lower shutters are mounted below the
level of the light source and mirror and function to further confine the
radiographic beam to the area of clinical interest
Skin sparring – to minimize skin exposure to electrons produced by photon
interaction with the collimator, the patient’s skin surface be at least 15 cm beloew
the collimator.
Source-to-image receptor distance indicator
X-ray beam limitation devices
o The primary x-ray beam shall be adequately collimated so that the size of
the image receptor being used for the examination. With modern
equipment, this is accomplished by providing the unit with a light-localizing
variable-aperture rectangular collimator to adjust the size and shape of the
x-ray beam either automatically or manually.
Additional types of x-ray beam limitation devices
Cones
Cylinders
o These devices confine the useful or primary beam before it enters the
area of clinical interest and thereby limits the surface area of body tissue
irradiated.
o Scattered radiation – radiation that arises from the interaction of an x-ray
beam with the atoms of a patient or any other object in the path of the
beam.
Luminance – is a scientific term referring to the brightness of a surface; quantifies the
intensity of a light source. It is also determined by measuring the concentration of light
over a particular field of view.
Coincidence between the radiographic beam and the localizing light beam
These coincidence requirements are collectively known as:
Alignment
Congruence
Collimator containing the
radiographic beam-defining
system, which establishes the
parameters (margins) of the
beam. Adjustable lead shutters
limit the cross-sectional area of
the beam and confine it to the
area of clinical interest.
Positive beam limitation (PBL)
consist of electronic sensors in an image receptor holder that sends signals to
the collimator housing. When PBL is activated, the collimators are automatically
adjusted so that the radiation field matches the size of the image receptor.
Alignment of the x-ray beam
It is imperative that the x-ray beam and the image receptor be correctly aligned
with each other.
A. Properly collimated radiographic
beam minimizes scattered radiation.
B. Improperly collimated radiographic
beam results in extra scattered
radiation.
Cones – are still sometimes used for most radiographic examinations of specific areas
such as
head, vertebral column and chest
Flared metal tubes and straight cylinders
are circular metal tubes that attach to the x-ray tube housing or variable
rectangular collimator to limit the x-ray beam to a predetermined size and shape.
Beam-defining cones used in dental radiography
Dental x-ray equipment is usually less bulky than a general-purpose equipment,
a one-piece beam limitation device such as a cone made of plastic is convenient.
Filtration
Purpose of Radiographic Beam Filtration.
o Reduces exposure to the patient’s skin and superficial tissue by absorbing
most of the low-energy photons.
o This increases the mean energy or quality of the x-ray beam. This change
is also referred to as hardening the beam
Filtration removes low-energy photons (long-wavelength
or "soft" x-rays) from the beam by absorbing them and
permits higher energy photons to pass through. This
reduces the amount of radiation that the patient receives.
Effect of filtration on the absorbed dose to the patient
Types of filtration
o Inherent filtration
Glass envelope encasing the x-ray tube
Insulating oil surrounding the tube
Glass window in the tube housing
Sheets of aluminum
o Added filtration
Requirement for total filtration
Total filtration of 2.5mm aluminum equivalent for fixed x-ray units operating
above 70 kVp is the regulatory standard.
Stationary (fixed) radiographic equipment requires total filtration of 1.5mm
aluminum equivalent for x-ray units operating at below 50 kVp require only .5mm
aluminum equivalent.
Filtration for general diagnostic radiology
In general diagnostic radiology, aluminum (Z=13) is the metal most widely
selected as a filter material because it effectively removes low energy (soft)
X-rays from a poly energetic (heterogenous) x-ray beam without severely decreasing
the x-ray beam intensity:
Aluminum is:
Lightweight
Sturdy
Relatively inexpensive
Readily available
Half value layer (HVL) – is defined as the thickness of a designated absorber required
to decrease the intensity of the primary beam of 50% of its initial value.
Compensating filters
Aluminum
Lead-acrylic
Other suitable materials
Wedge filter – is used to provide uniform density when the foot is undergoing
radiography in the dorsoplantar projection
The trough or bilateral wedge filter – is used in some dedicated chest radiographic
units, is another example of a compensating filter.
A. Wedged-shaped lead-acrylic compensating filter used to provide uniform density for
B. a dorsoplantar projection of the foot without a compensating filter.
C. A dorsoplantar projection of the foot with a wedge-shaped lead-acrylic compensating
filter.
Radiographic grids remove scattered x-ray The radiographic grid acts as a sieve to
photons that emerge from the patient block the passage of photons that have
being radiographed before this scattered been scattered at some angle from their
radiation reaches the image receptor and original path.
decreases radiographic quality.
Exposure reproducibility – consistency in radiation output intensity for identical
generator settings from one individual exposure to subsequent exposures.
Usage of screen film as an image receptor and recording medium
Intensifying screens
Digital radiography (DR)
Computed radiography (CR)
Radiographic grids – is a device made up of parallel radiopaque strips alternately
separated with low-attenuation strips of
Aluminum
Fiber
Wood
It is placed between the patient and the image receptor which significantly improves
Radiographic contrast
Visibility of detail
Summarizing the function of the radiographic grid
Grid ratio and patient dose
Are made up of parallel radiopaque lead strips alternately separated by low
attenuation strips of aluminum, plastic, fiber or wood. Therefore, because some
fraction of the image receptor is covered with lead, more mAs must be used to
compensate. The patient dose increases whenever a grid is inserted, and
because extra lead is contained in higher-ratio grids, patient dose increases as
grid ratio increases.
