Quality control phantom for flat panel detector X-ray systems

Abstract

X-ray equipment should be routinely checked for optimal imaging performance and appropriate radiation dose. Recently, the use of diagnostic x-ray equipment with flat panel detectors (FPDs) has increased instead of image intensifier (II) and/or screen film systems. In addition, it is necessary to maintain the performance of FPD systems. Unfortunately, no simple quality control (QC) phantom is available for easy evaluation of FPD image performance. This manuscript suggests a novel simple and inexpensive QC phantom for radiography and fluoroscopy. The authors made a new QC phantom for FPD systems to evaluate the spatial resolution, low-contrast resolution, and dynamic range on single (one-shot) x-ray exposures. The phantom consists of three copper thicknesses (0.5, 1.5, and 3.0 mm), an aluminum stepwedge (0.1-2.7 mm), and piano wire of various diameters (0.08-0.5 mm). They also performed an initial check of the new phantom using a FPD system (fluoroscopic and radiographic images). The new phantom is simple and inexpensive to make. This simple phantom is very useful for QC of FPD systems because a visual evaluation of image performance in three thicknesses of copper (low, intermediate, and high attenuation) is readily available with a single exposure. This simple method for daily checking of FPD systems (radiography and fluoroscopy) using the phantom constitutes an easy way to routinely check image performance and will be useful for QC.