Quality Assurance and Fault Analysis of Radiographs

Question 1

How often should a digital receptor be checked?

Answer 1

Every 3 months or sooner if an issue is suspected

Question 2

What should you check for when examining a digital image receptor?

Answer 2

The receptor itself
-check for visible damage to casing/wiring
-check if clean
Image uniformity
-expose receptor to an unattenuated X-ray beam & check if resulting image is uniform
Image quality
-take a radiograph of a test object and assess the resulting image against a baseline

Question 3

What damage can phosphor plates have that affects the image?

Answer 3

Scratches- white lines
Cracking- network of white lines
Delamination (separation of phosphor layer from base plate)- white areas around the edge

Question 4

What damage can solid-state sensors have that affects the image?

Answer 4

Sensor damage- white squares or straight lines

Question 5

What damage can film radiography have that affects the image?

Answer 5

damage often appears as black marks due to sensitisation of radiographic emulsion
However, may appear white if emulsion is scraped off

Question 6

What does a quality analysis of clinical image quality consist of?

Answer 6

Image quality rating
–grading each image
Image quality analysis
–reviewing images to calculate ‘success rate’ & identify any trends for suboptimal images
–carried out periodically
Reject analysis
–recording & analysing each unacceptable image

Question 7

What does IRR17 deal with?

Answer 7

Occupational exposures and exposure of the general public

Question 8

What does IRMER17 deal with?

Answer 8

Medical exposure of patients

Question 9

Who is responsible for putting in place arrangements for compliance in IRR17?

Answer 9

The employer

Question 10

What roles does IRMER17 define during medical exposures?

Answer 10

Referrer
Practitioner
Operator
Employer

Question 11

What must exposures be under IRMER17?

Answer 11

Justified and optimised