Comparison of X-ray image quality and scattered radiation among portable, mobile, and stationary X-ray machines
Abstract
Chest radiography is a sensitive method for tuberculosis (TB) detection, and portable X-ray systems offer a practical solution for community-based screening. However, whether the image quality of portable systems is diagnostically comparable to that of mobile and stationary systems remains insufficiently addressed. This study compared image quality and ambient dose equivalent H*(10) per radiographic exposure across one portable, three mobile, and three stationary X-ray systems. Image quality was evaluated using a test object for radiography (TOR) contrast-detail phantom at acrylic thicknesses of 13 cm, 22.5 cm, and 32 cm, and using an anthropomorphic chest phantom assessed by two radiologists and one pulmonologist according to the European guidelines on quality criteria for diagnostic radiographic images. Spatial resolution, low-contrast sensitivity, and high-contrast sensitivity were analysed using AutoPIA and, where automated analysis was not possible, visual scoring with ImageJ (median values from three independent observers). Scattered radiation was quantified as ambient dose equivalent H*(10) per exposure at 1.0 m from the centre of the phantom. Values were measured directly at 1.0 m for the 13 cm and 22.5 cm acrylic thicknesses and the anthropomorphic chest phantom; for the 32 cm thickness, the 1.0 m value was estimated by inverse square law extrapolation from a measurement obtained at 1.5 m. For the TOR phantom, the portable system produced spatial resolution and…
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