TY - GEN
T1 - Anatomy-based transmission factors for technique optimization in portable chest x-ray
AU - Liptak, Christopher L.
AU - Tovey, Deborah
AU - Segars, William P.
AU - Dong, Frank D.
AU - Li, Xiang
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 SPIE.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Portable x-ray examinations often account for a large percentage of all radiographic examinations. Currently, portable examinations do not employ automatic exposure control (AEC). To aid in the design of a size-specific technique chart, acrylic slabs of various thicknesses are often used to estimate x-ray transmission for patients of various body thicknesses. This approach, while simple, does not account for patient anatomy, tissue heterogeneity, and the attenuation properties of the human body. To better account for these factors, in this work, we determined x-ray transmission factors using computational patient models that are anatomically realistic. A Monte Carlo program was developed to model a portable x-ray system. Detailed modeling was done of the x-ray spectrum, detector positioning, collimation, and source-to-detector distance. Simulations were performed using 18 computational patient models from the extended cardiac-torso (XCAT) family (9 males, 9 females; age range: 2-58 years; weight range: 12-117 kg). The ratio of air kerma at the detector with and without a patient model was calculated as the transmission factor. Our study showed that the transmission factor decreased exponentially with increasing patient thickness. For the range of patient thicknesses examined (12-28 cm), the transmission factor ranged from approximately 21% to 1.9% when the air kerma used in the calculation represented an average over the entire imaging field of view. The transmission factor ranged from approximately 21% to 3.6% when the air kerma used in the calculation represented the average signals from two discrete AEC cells behind the lung fields. These exponential relationships may be used to optimize imaging techniques for patients of various body thicknesses to aid in the design of clinical technique charts.
AB - Portable x-ray examinations often account for a large percentage of all radiographic examinations. Currently, portable examinations do not employ automatic exposure control (AEC). To aid in the design of a size-specific technique chart, acrylic slabs of various thicknesses are often used to estimate x-ray transmission for patients of various body thicknesses. This approach, while simple, does not account for patient anatomy, tissue heterogeneity, and the attenuation properties of the human body. To better account for these factors, in this work, we determined x-ray transmission factors using computational patient models that are anatomically realistic. A Monte Carlo program was developed to model a portable x-ray system. Detailed modeling was done of the x-ray spectrum, detector positioning, collimation, and source-to-detector distance. Simulations were performed using 18 computational patient models from the extended cardiac-torso (XCAT) family (9 males, 9 females; age range: 2-58 years; weight range: 12-117 kg). The ratio of air kerma at the detector with and without a patient model was calculated as the transmission factor. Our study showed that the transmission factor decreased exponentially with increasing patient thickness. For the range of patient thicknesses examined (12-28 cm), the transmission factor ranged from approximately 21% to 1.9% when the air kerma used in the calculation represented an average over the entire imaging field of view. The transmission factor ranged from approximately 21% to 3.6% when the air kerma used in the calculation represented the average signals from two discrete AEC cells behind the lung fields. These exponential relationships may be used to optimize imaging techniques for patients of various body thicknesses to aid in the design of clinical technique charts.
KW - Chest x-ray
KW - Monte Carlo
KW - Portable radiography
KW - Simulation
KW - Technique optimization
KW - Transmission factor
KW - XCAT
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U2 - 10.1117/12.2082056
DO - 10.1117/12.2082056
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84943303352
T3 - Progress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging - Proceedings of SPIE
BT - Medical Imaging 2015
A2 - Hoeschen, Christoph
A2 - Kontos, Despina
A2 - Hoeschen, Christoph
PB - SPIE
T2 - Medical Imaging 2015: Physics of Medical Imaging
Y2 - 22 February 2015 through 25 February 2015
ER -