Screen-Film Radiography II

Characteristics of film
Screen-film system
Scattered radiation
 Composition and function
• Unexposed film consists of one or two layers of
film emulsion coated onto a flexible Mylar sheet
• Tabular grain emulsions are used in modern
radiographic film; laser cameras and older
radiographic films use cubic grain emulsions
• Grains of silver halide (AgBr and AgI) are bound
in a gelatin base and together comprise the film
emulsion
 Optical density
• X-ray film is a negative recorder – increased light (or x-
ray) exposure causes the developed film to become darker
• Degree of darkness is quantified by the OD, measured with
a densitometer
• Transmittance and OD defined as:
I
T
I0
1  I0 
OD  log10  T   log10    log10  
T   I 
 OD examples
T OD Comment

1.0000 0 Perfectly clear (does not exist)

0.7760 0.11 Unexposed film (base + fog)

0.1000 1 Medium gray

0.0100 2 Dark

0.0010 3 Very dark; requires hot lamp

0.00025 3.6 Maximum OD used in medical radiography

 Hurter and Driffield curve
• The response of film as a function of x-ray
exposure is nonlinear
• Curve describing OD versus the logarithm
(base 10) of exposure is called the H&D
curve
• This curve has a sigmoid shape
 Contrast
• Contrast of a radiographic film is related to
the slope of the H&D curve:
– Regions of higher slope have higher contrast
– Regions of reduced slope (e.g., the toe and
shoulder) have lower contrast
• A single number, which defines the overall
contrast of a given type of radiographic
film, is the average gradient
 Average gradient
• OD1 = 0.25 + base + fog
• OD2 = 2.0 + base + fog
OD2  OD1
Average gradient 
log10  E2   log10  E1 
• Average gradients for radiographic film
range from 2.5 to 3.5
 Speed
• Sensitivity or speed of a screen-film system can be seen
from H&D curves
• As the speed of a screen-film combination increases, the
amount of x-ray exposure required to achieve the same
OD decreases
• Absolute speed is the inverse of the exposure (in
roentgens) required to achieve an OD of 1.0 + base + fog
• Commercial system for defining speed is a relative
measure. Par speed systems have an arbitrary speed
rating of 100.
 Latitude
• Contrast is desirable in screen-film
radiography
• Latitude is the range of x-ray exposures that
deliver ODs in the usable range
• High contrast systems have reduced latitude
• It is more difficult to consistently achieve
proper exposures with low-latitude screen-
film systems
 Screen-film system
• Film emulsion should be sensitive to the
wavelengths of light emitted by the screen
• Calcium tungstate emits blue light to which silver
halide is sensitive
• Rare earth screens emit green light; sensitizers are
added to the film emulsion to increase the
sensitivity of silver halide to these wavelengths
• Screens and films are usually purchased as a
combination
 Reciprocity law
• The relationship between exposure and OD
should remain constant regardless of the
exposure rate
• For very long or very short exposures, and
exposure rate dependency between
exposure and OD is observed, and this is
called reciprocity law failure
 Contrast and dose
• Screen-film system governs the overall detector
contrast
• Total x-ray exposure time (motion artifacts) and
radiation dose to the patient are considerations
• Lower kVp settings yield higher subject contrast,
especially for bone imaging
• Appropriate kVp for each specific type of
examination is dogmatic, and these values have been
optimized over a century of experience
• Adjustments may be required due to patient size
 Scattered radiation
• For virtually all radiographic procedures
except mammography, most photon
interactions in soft tissue produce scattered
x-ray photons
• Detection of scattered photons causes film
darkening but does not add information
content to the image
 Effect of collimation
• As the field of view is reduced, the scatter is
reduced
• An easy way to reduce the amount of x-ray
scatter is by collimating the x-ray field to
include only the anatomy of interest and no
more
 Antiscatter grid
• An antiscatter grid is placed between the
patient and the screen-film cassette
• The grid uses geometry to reduce the
amount of scattered reaching the detector
 Antiscatter grid (cont.)
• Antiscatter grid is composed of a series of small
slits, aligned with the focal spot, that are separated
by highly attenuating septa
• Primary x-rays have a higher chance of passing
through the slits unattenuated by the adjacent
septa
• Septa (grid bars) are usually made of lead;
openings (interspaces) between the bars can be
made of carbon fiber, aluminum, or even paper
 Grid ratio
• Single most important parameter that
influences the performance of a grid
• Grid ratio is the ratio of the height to the
width of the interspaces (not the grid bars)
in the grid
• Grid ratios of 8:1, 10:1, and 12:1 are
common in general radiography; grid ratio
of 5:1 is common in mammography
 Other grid parameters
• Focal length determines the amount of slant of the
slits in the grid
• Grid frequency refers to the number of grid bars per
unit length. Grids with 40 and 60 grid lines per
centimeter commonly available
• Interspace material influences dose efficiency. Air
or carbon fiber required for mammography
• The Bucky factor is the ratio of the entrance
exposure to the patient when the grid is used to the
entrance exposure without the grid