An investigation into the performance of an automated quality assurance and dosimetry system in diagnostic radiology

A system has been developed to undertake automatic quality assurance and dosimetry for diagnostic radiology examinations. The accuracy and reproducibility of the measurements and calculations made by the system have been investigated in a laboratory study and compared with concurrent measurements of exposure parameters made using standard techniques. In a later set of experiments, doses measured using a RANDO phantom and thermoluminescent dosimeters were compared with those calculated by the automated system. Assessment was carried out over a wide range of exposure factors and for a number of different radiological examinations. It is deduced from the results that exposure parameters can be measured with comparable accuracy to standard techniques, and that the automated system is suitable for performing on-line dosimetry.