Vol. 8, 2023
Radiation Protection
EVALUATION OF THE PRIMARY QUALITY CONTROL PARAMETERS ON DIAGNOSTIC RADIOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT IN GOVERNMENTAL AND PRIVATE HEALTHCARE INSTITUTIONS IN ALBANIA
Luljeta Disha, Manjola Shyti
Pages: 111-115
DOI: 10.37392/RapProc.2023.23
Abstract | References | Full Text (PDF)
During the last decade many European countries have applied and regulated
through state legislation quality control (QC) program in diagnostic
radiology. Such a program forms an essential part of dose effective
radiological practice and should be implemented in every x-ray medical
equipment. Implementation of QC tests on diagnostic radiographic equipment
can ensure the optimal status of imaging systems, providing in this way
high-quality images. QC of radiological medical devices in Albania is
applicated since 2015, every three years. QC techniques used to test the
components of the radiological system and verify that the equipment is
operating satisfactorily are performed from the Institute of Applied Nuclear
Physics and all the instruments used for performing these measurements are
sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The aim of this study
was to investigate the status of 8 randomly selected X-ray generators used
in radiology centers of 6 different cities in Albania during the 2021-2022
period. This study presents only the primary QC parameters: kilovoltage
(kVp) accuracy and reproducibility, kVp variation with change of mA,
exposure time accuracy and reproducibility, tube output and
reproducibility, tube output variation with change in indicated tube
current - exposure time product (mAs) and filtration (half value layer).
All measurements were performed using Radcal (AGMS-DM+) solid-state multi
sensor, plugged into its appropriate
(Accu-Gold+) digitizer module. This detector was placed on the radiographic
tabletop along with the central axis of the X-ray beam at the focus to
detector distance of 100 cm. Based on the findings, this study showed
clearly that all the radiographic devices, subject of routine quality
control tests were in a very good compliance with the acceptable criteria.
Specifically, for the primary QC parameters tests, kVp accuracy was between
1.4 - 5%, kVp reproducibility was between 1-3.1%, kVp variation with change
of mA was between 1.4 - 5.4 %, time accuracy and reproducibility was
between 0 - 6.6%, tube output value with a total filtration 2.5 mm Al at
100 cm for true 80 kV operation was between 26.1 - 60µGy/mAs, tube output
reproducibility was between 0 – 2.5%, tube output variation with change of
mAs product was between 1 - 18% and filtration at 70 kV was between 2.6 –
3.9 mm Al. Results of this study showed that, even though radiological
devices in Albania are relatively old with high workload, especially during
the last years, all the devices met the standard criteria.
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