title: A fast non-invasive beam check for mammography x-ray units.
abstract: A prototype instrument is presented for the indirect evaluation of the main physical parameters characterizing a mammographic x-ray beam. The instrument consists of an x-ray probe with four filtered solid-state detectors connected to a signal-conditioning electronic circuitry and a high-speed digitizer interfaced to a portable personal computer. The system, governed by an ad hoc developed software, can measure kVp, kV waveform, ripple, HVL, exposure time and exposure in a single shot of the x-ray beam with good accuracy. The system should prove very useful to any quality-control programme for mammography.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Ferrara and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), sezione di Ferrara, Via Paradiso 12, 44100 Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gambaccini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marziani
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rimondi
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008327:Mammography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D011786:Quality Control; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011874:Radiometry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity