Building a Cost Efficient Digital Radiography System for Educational Purposes

Abstract

Due to the growing need for Medical Physicists, many universities are implementing a Medical Physics program into their academic catalog. To help establish a new program, feasible equipment may be needed to help academic departments provide a hands-on experience for students and help teach the basic concepts of Medical Physics. For example, clinical Digital Radiography Systems (DRS) are used to help teach the basic concepts of digital imaging. However, such systems can cost in excess of $100,000, creating a financial obstacle that will be difficult to overcome. Hence, the development of a cost efficient digital radiography system may be desired in order to eliminate the financial obstacle and give students a hands-on learning experience. This DRS uses three main components to develop an image, an x-ray source, an intensifying plate, and a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. All three components are housed in a lead-lined box. The purpose of this project is to find the limitations of our DRS and compare the price between our DRS and commercially available DRSs. At optimal settings, a SNR of 25 is shown across the intensifying screen that can identify objects as small as 0.42mm. A Contrast-detail phantom shows the ability to decipher the varying thickness of foam rubber squares. The total cost of our DRS comes to ~$17,000.00, a fractional price tag compared to a commercially available DRS.