Development of quality control system for flat-panel detectors.

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging Physics
• Radiological Technology
• Quality Control in Medical Devices

Background:

• Flat-panel detectors (FPDs) are crucial in medical imaging but degrade with radiation exposure.
• This degradation is localized and non-linearly related to radiation dose, complicating system management.
• Current quality control (QC) methods for evaluating FPD image degradation are insufficient.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review FPD structure and degradation mechanisms.
• To propose a novel, daily QC system for evaluating FPD image degradation.
• To develop user-friendly software for operationalizing the QC system.

Main Methods:

• Investigated defective pixels, lines, and pixel output offset levels for degradation assessment.
• Developed daily QC software for FPDs to evaluate image quality.
• Evaluated an indirect-conversion type FPD using the developed system and X-ray exposure.

Main Results:

• FPD offset levels increased exponentially with X-ray exposure.
• No clear trends were observed for the number of defective pixels or lines.
• The evaluation process took approximately 1 minute and required no specialized skills.

Conclusions:

• The proposed daily QC system is effective for evaluating FPD image degradation.
• The system's simplicity and speed make it suitable for routine use in managing FPD systems.
• This approach can contribute to maintaining optimal image quality and device longevity.