Visual Evaluation of Rib Shadow and Lung Marking during High-voltage Chest Radiography

흉부 고관전압 촬영에 있어서의 늑골음영과 폐문리의 시각적 평가

Visual evaluation of rib shadow and lung marking during high voltage chest radiography. The Purpose of this study is to improvement of visual discrimination of pulmonary structures on the conventional chest radiogram. The author prepared an artificial lung using an acryl plate, 8 cm in thickness, which is nearly equivalent to human lung, and 0.6 cm thickness of an aluminum plate for an artificial rib, and 0.5 cm of an acryl plate as a pulmonary vessel as well. And they were used as objects for experimental radiograms. This study performed with gradual increasing densities of film bases in the sequences of densities of 0.6, 0.9, 1.1 and 1.3. We made two combinations of images after multiple and regular cuts, with width of 1 cm, of 4 radiograms at the above mentioned densities of film bases. One image consisted of alternative combination of radiograms taken at densities of 0.6 and 1.3, and the other did at 0.9 and 1.1. The latter image provided better visual perception of pulmonary structures than the former. Experimental radiograms were also taken with 60 kV and 120 kV respectively. After careful evaluation and comparison to images taken on varieties of different densities with combinations and kV, the author had a conclusion that it is advisable to use a high kV X-ray which makes rib shadow subtle, for better visual delineation of pulmonary structures behind ribcage, eventhough contrast of pulmonary structures are decreased at high kV radiogram.