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A study of scatter in diagnostic X-ray rooms

Medical Physics Department, The Churchill, Oxford Radcliffe Hospital NHS Trust, Headington, Oxford OX3 7LJ, UK

View larger version (48K): [in a new window]   Figure 1. The experimental set up used to measure and calculate the scatter from a phantom supported against one of the walls with the X-ray tube focus and detector 1 m from the incident surface of the phantom. DAP, dose–area product.

View larger version (34K): [in a new window]   Figure 2. The experimental set up used to measure and calculate the scatter from a phantom in the centre of the room and to study the effect of scatter from the X-ray tube head. The positions of the detector and mobile shield are shown for the measurements carried out at scattering angles of 45°, 87° and 135°. DAP, dose–area product.

View larger version (65K): [in a new window]   Figure 3. An example of the voxel geometry that can be used to define the patient (WT1 material), the surrounding air and the X-ray room walls (concrete) with the XYZSCAT Monte Carlo code.

View larger version (22K): [in a new window]   Figure 4. The geometry for the calculation of scatter at a 150° scattering angle for 140 kV X-rays incident on a 20 cm thick concrete barrier.

View larger version (24K): [in a new window]   Figure 5. The calculation model of the Philips fluoroscopy room at the Royal Marsden Hospital: (a) the overhead view with the X-ray tube in a lateral orientation and (b) the lateral view with the X-ray tube in the overcouch orientation. The patient access to the X-ray room is not shown in the figure. DAP, dose–area product.

View larger version (18K): [in a new window]   Figure 6. The variation of scatter from the dose–area product meter at the scattering angle positions 1 m from the phantom surface for tube voltages of 49 kV and 121 kV.

View larger version (19K): [in a new window]   Figure 7. The variation of scatter from a concrete barrier calculated with the XYZSCAT code for a parallel beam and a divergent beam (focus–surface distance (FSD)=100 cm) and the values given by the HMSO [1] for 100 kV to 300 kV X-rays.

View larger version (36K): [in a new window]   Figure 8. The variation of scatter at the X-ray room entrance behind a protective screen for (a) increasing the depth of the radiographer's console area, i.e. the distance between the screen and the wall containing the room entrance; for (b) increasing the width of the radiographer's console area; for (c) increasing the distance between the protective screen and the ceiling; and for (d) increasing the height of the protective screen.