Design and Use of a Custom Phantom for Regular Tests of Radiography Apparatus: A Feasibility Study

Area of Science:

• Medical Physics
• Radiological Imaging
• Quality Assurance

Background:

• Routine quality control (QC) is essential for maintaining the diagnostic accuracy and safety of radiographic systems.
• Existing commercial phantoms can be expensive, limiting accessibility for some institutions.
• Developing in-house solutions for QC testing offers a potentially cost-effective alternative.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of using a custom-developed 3D physical phantom for weekly QC testing of radiographic systems.
• To compare the performance of the in-house phantom with a commercial phantom (IBA's Primus L).
• To assess the phantom's utility in identifying potential malfunctions in X-ray units.

Main Methods:

• A 3D physical phantom with test objects, including a lesion model, was fabricated.
• Weekly imaging of the in-house and commercial phantoms was performed over four weeks using varied protocols and anode voltages.
• Image data were analyzed through visual inspection and region-of-interest intensity measurements.

Main Results:

• Average kilovoltage values remained stable across both phantoms over the four-week period.
• Variability in the 'low energy' measurements during the first week indicated a potential X-ray unit malfunction.
• The in-house phantom successfully identified the malfunctioning X-ray unit, which was subsequently repaired.

Conclusions:

• The in-house-developed physical phantom is a feasible and useful tool for weekly quality control testing of radiographic systems.
• The phantom demonstrated effectiveness in assessing X-ray system performance and detecting malfunctions.
• This study supports the development and implementation of custom phantoms for routine radiological QC.