Clinical trials performed for the FDA’s Section 510k compliance submission of the Statscan digital, full-body, linear slit scanning diagnostic radiography system revealed that comparable diagnostic results with a commercial full-field screen film device were obtained with the Statscan using much lower radiation doses. For certain imaging procedures the doses for Statscan were as much as twenty to thirty times lower. However the results varied by a large amount and in particular the results for chest radiographs were anomalous in that the Statscan dose was less reduced. Whilst it is well known that slit scanning radiography has considerably lower radiation exposure than full-field devices due to its much lower scatter to primary ratio and also that digital radiography has the potential for lower radiation dosages, it was thought that that this alone did not fully account for the dose differences. This paper suggests that these dose differences, including the anomaly mentioned above, can be explained by considering the unique way that slit scanning is undertaken by Statscan i.e. by scanning the tube, detector, slit and collimators together along a linear path. The effect on measured skin entrance doses is explained and the dosage differences as affected by digital technology, higher DQE, slit scanning (low scatter to primary ratio) and linear slit scanning methods are quantified. Furthermore it is explained how the Statscan geometry leads an improved “skin sparing” effect.
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