Main description:

This book addresses radiation protection of patients having digital radiography and computed tomography (CT) examinations. The literature on radiation doses to patients from these two modalities have reported that the doses to patients are high. As a result, the radiology community has focused on methods and procedures to keep these doses as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) without compromising the diagnostic image quality. This book outlines the motivation for dose optimization in radiology, identifies and describes the ICRP principle of optimization, outlines the factors affecting the dose in digital radiography and in CT, and identifies and describes strategies used in digital radiography and in CT for dose optimization.

This book is intended for all those working in digital radiography and CT environments including radiological technologists, and radiographers, radiologists, biomedical engineering technologists, and student medical physicists.

It is best used as a supplement to radiologic science textbooks, and in particular, radiation protection textbooks. Furthermore, this book lays the foundations for students and practitioners engaged in research on dose reduction and dose optimization in radiology.

* Provides practical and useful methods for optimization of doses from digital radiography and CT

* Describes the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) principle of optimization

* Outlines the factors affecting the dose in digital radiography and in computed tomography

Contents:

Chapter 1: Dose Optimization: A Useful Tool in Radiation Protection

* Chapter Outline

* Learning Objectives

* What is Dose Optimization?

* Motivation for Dose Optimization in Digital Radiography

o Bioeffects of Radiation

o Dose Creep in Digital Radiography

o High Doses in CT

* Optimization Strategies Overview

Chapter 2: Digital Radiography: A Technical Review

* Chapter Outline

* Learning Objectives

* Limitations of Film-Screen Radiography (FSR)

* Technical Principles of Digital Radiography Systems

o Computed Radiography: Physical Principles

o Flat-Panel Digital Radiography: Physical Principles

* Factors Affecting the Dose in Digital Radiography

Chapter 3: Optimization Strategies in Digital Radiography

* Chapter Outline

* Learning Objectives

* Optimization of the kV and mAs

* Optimization of the Exposure Indicator (EI)

* Optimization using Image Post Processing (Multi-Frequency Processing)

* Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs) in Digital Radiography

Chapter 4: Computed Tomography: A Technical Review

* Chapter Outline

* Learning Objectives

* Technical Principles of Computed Tomography

* CT Dosimetry

* Factors Affecting the Dose in CT

* Artificial Intelligence in CT

o Deep Learning-Based CT Image Reconstruction