Radiation dose reduction in the evaluation of scoliosis: an application of digital radiography.
This report documents the clinical testing of scanning beam digital radiography as an imaging method in patients with scoliosis. This type of digital imaging requires a skin exposure of only 2.4 mR (0.619 microC/kg) per image, compared with the lowest possible posteroanterior screen-film exposure of 10 mR (2.58 microC/kg) at the chest and 60 mR (15.48 microC/kg) at the lumbar spine. Digital radiographic and screen-film images were obtained on multiple test objects and 273 patients. Scoliosis measurements using screen-film radiographs and digital radiographs were comparable to within a mean difference of 1 degrees at many different degrees of severity. The low-dose digital images were found to be useful and accurate for the detection and measurement of scoliosis after the first screen-film radiographs have excluded tumors and structural abnormalities.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement; D012600:Scoliosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*