부비동 디지털 엑스선검사에서 자동노출제어 조절인자의 최적화를 통한 조사선량 감소 효과

Effects of Exposure Dose Reduction by Optimization of Automatic Exposure Control Factors in Digital Radiographic Examination of Paranasal Sinus

The purpose of this study was to reduce dose while maintaining image quality during digital radiographic examination of paranasal sinus by using the automatic exposure control (AEC) system. The tube voltage was set as six stages that increased by about 10 kVp to 70 kVp, 81 kVp, 90 kVp, 102 kVp, 109 kVp and 117 kVp. And then the AEC system conditions were consisted of 9 setting environments, that change mode of the sensitivity (S200, S400, S800) and the density (+2.5, 0, -2.5). We measured automatically exposed tube current (mAs) under 54 conditions with combined these, and assessed SNR and PSNR through the acquired images. In addition, four radiologists performed a qualitative assessment of the acquired images for each combination on a five-point scale of the Likert. As a result, the lowest dose and the highest values of SNR and PSNR in images with a qualitative assessment more than 4 point were the AEC control factors of 90 kVp, S800, D2.5. We applied this condition to the clinical trial, it showed an effect of 83.1% reduction in exposure radiation dose (mR). Therefore, AEC system could be used as dose reduction technology if it understood and used related regulatory factors and physical characteristics.