Physica medica : PM : an international journal devoted to the applications of physics to medicine and biology : official journal of the Italian Association of Biomedical Physics (AIFB)
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Demonstrate an objective procedure to quantify image quality in digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and suggest thresholds for acceptability and constancy tests. ⋯ Objective evaluation of DSA images using CNR is feasible with dedicated phantom measurements. An objective methodology has been suggested for acceptance tests compliant with the IEC/DIN standards. The defined overall scores can serve to fix a reproducible baseline for constancy tests, as well as to study the device stability within one acquisition series and compare different imaging protocols. This work provides aspects that have not been included in the recent European guidelines on Criteria for Acceptability of Medical Radiological Equipment.
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The aim of this paper was to determine experimentally the entrance surface air kerma (ESAK) and kerma-area product (KAP) levels to patients and scatter doses at the cardiologist's eyes during paediatric interventional cardiology (IC) procedures for Chile, on the basis of measurements taken from X-ray systems characterization for different thicknesses of polymethyl methacrylate, together with the average values of fluoroscopy time and number of cine frames for ten paediatric IC procedures. The range of cumulative ESAK values when the different clinical procedures were simulated was from 2 to 1100 mGy. ⋯ Large differences between the X-ray systems were found in our study. Standardized guidelines in terms of X-ray system setting and protocols should be developed for hospitals that perform paediatric IC procedures in Chile.