The assessment of the automatic exposure control system for mammography x-ray machine

Abstract

In the U.S., performance assessment on the Automatic Exposure Control system (AEC) is managed according to the Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA). However, The AEC is not available in the performance assessment conducted in Korea. Also, there is no study made on the performance of the automatic exposure control system for mammography in Korea. For this reason, this study examined the performance of the automatic exposure control system for mammography that was clinically used in the Incheon area. Result showed that the difference of the mean optical density was 0.79 ∼ 2.81. This implies that some devices caused unnecessary x-ray exposure to patients. Furthermore, only 61.5% of the entire experimental device was shown to be satisfactory in terms of change in mean optical density. Moreover, in terms of the subject’s thickness, change in radiographic density was shown to be severe among lower X-ray tube voltage while there was severe density change in X-ray image depending on X-ray tube voltage among the subjects with more thickness. Therefore, it is suggested to provide performance management on the AEC for mammography.