Needle image plates compared to conventional CR in chest radiography: is dose reduction possible?

Abstract Purpose To compare image quality of standard-dose computed radiography and dose reduced needle-technology CR for supine CXR in a clinical setting. Materials and methods We prospectively evaluated 128 radiographs of 32 immunocompromised patients. For each patient four clinical CXR were performed within one week, two with powder image plates (PIP; Fuji ST-V) and two with needle image plates (NIP; Agfa DXS) at standard and half dose, respectively. One experienced radiologist and two residents blinded to dose level and kind of imaging system rated different anatomical structures, image noise, tubes/lines and abnormalities on a image quality scale from 1 to 10 (1 = poor, 10 = excellent). The rating scores were tested for statistical differences using analysis of variance with repeated measures. Results A statistical difference ( p Conclusion For supine chest radiograms the NIP technology allows for a dose reduction of 50% while providing higher image quality.