[Estimation of appropriate dose for computed radiography by the threshold value of the image quality figure]

We estimated the optimum dose for imaging with a computed radiography (CR) system at two different pixel sizes based on the area under curve (AUC) in receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and image quality figure (IQF). Samples for ROC analysis were prepared as follows. Acryl beads, 2.0 mm in diameter, were placed on a 50.0 mm tough water phantom that was fitted with a 20.0 mm Al filter (SID 200 cm, tube voltage 80 kV). The dose level at which the film density of the screen-film system (SRO250/SRG) was 1.0+/-0.05 served as the reference dose (0.69microC/kg). Five samples were prepared by multiplying the reference dose by 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, and 4. The samples for image quality evaluation on the basis of IQF were prepared under identical conditions. A contrast-detail (C-D) phantom was placed on a 50.0 mm tough water phantom and images were taken. The contrast threshold of these samples was determined by 10 film readers, the same as those for the ROC analysis. When the significance of differences in the AUC was tested by the paired t-test (two-sided) and the Jackknife method, significant differences were noted between the reference dose and the 1/4 or 4-times dose at the standard pixel size (0.175 mm) and smaller pixel size (0.0875 mm) size, while no significant difference was noted between the reference dose and the 1/2 or 2-times dose. In terms of IQF, no significant difference was noted between standard and smaller pixel sizes (paired t-test). The IQF data indicate that the dose level for imaging with CR can be reduced by about 30% from the reference dose.