exposureFactor

Exposure time Milliamperage (Ma) Kilovoltage

(mAs) the product of (KVp) the highest

electron tube current and energy level of measure of the potential
the amount of time in photons in the x-ray difference a cross the x-ray
second that the x-ray tube beam. tube and determine the
is activated. speed of electron

time measure of how the measure of the current

exposure will continue and flow in the x-ray tube
measure in unit of second circuit, it determine the
or millisecond, rate of x-ray product.
 3 Interaction of x-radiation with matter
Factor of radiographic exposure:

1. Kilovoltage: is a measure of the potential difference a cross the x-

ray tube and determine the speed of electron in the electron stream.
• Peak kilovoltage (KVp) the highest energy level of photons in the
x-ray beam.
• Increase KVp (kilovolts peak) more penetrating x-ray beam through
the body tissue which affect the quality of photon in the x-ray beam
and also affect the quantity of number of photon in the beam.
Increase KVp more penetrating +affect the quality+affect the quantity
• Milliamperage (Ma): is measure of the current flow in the x-ray
tube circuit, it determine the rate of x-ray product. High Ma setting
are used to needed exposure time. Strong Ma with long exposure
time cause increase the amount of heat accumulates in the anode
and may cause damage to anode.

Strong Ma+ long exposure time= increase the amount of heat in the
anode + may cause damage to anode.
 . 3 Exposure time: is a time measure of how the exposure
will continue and measure in unit of second or millisecond, it
range 1 millisecond to as much several second.
• Milliamper-second (mAs) the product of electron tube
current and the amount of time in second that the x-ray tube
is activated.
• the radiographic image is created by passing an x-ray beam
through the patient and interaction with an image receptor,
such as a film-screen system. The variation in absorption
and transmission of the exiting x-ray beam will structurally
represent the anatomic area of interest.
The action
• Absorption :is the transformation of electromagnetic
energy to the atoms of the material.
result
• Absorbed dose (D) Is the amount of energy absorbed per unit
mass, so as the more absorbed dose to the patient’s body the greater
the possibility of biologic damage in the patient, so the amount the
absorbed of electromagnetic energy should be kept small as
possible which also decrease the scattered radiation from the
patient.
more absorbed dose the greater the possibility of biologic damage
absorbed kept The lower the probability
small as possible of biological damage +decrease the scattered radiation
The process
• Differential Absorption: when the x-ray beam penetrated the
object body it will interact with the anatomic tissue, so differential
absorption is process where some of the x-ray beam is absorbed in
the tissue and some passes through the anatomic part,the anatomic
of bone will absorb more x-ray photons than parts filled with air.
Differential absorption of the primary x-ray beam will create an
image that structurally represents the anatomic area of interest.
Production of x-ray primary beam radiation:

• The x-ray is produced when stream of high speeds electrons emitted

from cathode in evacuated glass tube toward the target (anodes)
which usually made from tungsten and as a result of interact these
electrons with the atoms of target, x-ray will produce emerge from
the target leaving the tube through a glass window. This ray travel at
the speed of light (electromagnetic radiation), and doesn’t have mass
or electric charge.
• The anode made from tungsten due to this metal have high atomic
number and have high melting point.
• Glasses window and ascertain thickness of aluminium is placed
how
within collimator assembly acts as a filters? by removing useless
very low energy x-rays. these combination of x-ray tube glasses and
added aluminium is called the permanent inherent filtration of the
x-ray unit.
Energy of photons in diagnostic x-ray beam: all photons in a
diagnostic x-ray beam do not have the same energy ( polyenergy ) .
• The energy of the electrons inside the x-ray tube is expressed in terms
of the electrical voltage applied across the tube.
why?
• In diagnostic radiology, this is expressed in thousands of volts, or
kilovolts (kV). Because the voltage across the tube fluctuates, it is
usually expressed in kilovolt peak (kVp.
• For a typical diagnostic x-ray unit, the energy of the average photon
in the x-ray beam is about one
third the energy of the most energetic
photon. Therefore, a 100-kVp beam
contains photons having energies
of 100 keV or less, with an average
energy of approximately 33 keV
Attenuations: attenuation of x-ray beam is refer to the reduction in the
reduction in the number of primary photons in the x-ray beam
through absorption (a total loss of radiation energy) and scatter (a
change in direction of travel that may also involve a partial loss of
radiation energy) as the beam passes through the patient in its path.
• direct transmission:Some primary x-ray photons also traverse the
patient without interacting.
• When the scatter photons still traverse the patient and strike the IR.
This process is called indirect transmission and degrade image
quality (sharpness of the recorded image).
• Several methods have been devised to limit the effects of indirectly
transmitted x-ray photons. The most common methods include the
following:
• Air gap techniques
• Radiographic grids
scatter processes that prevent the photon from reaching predefined
destination.
Direct transmission: is the primary beam passes through the object
without interacting.
Indirect transmission: is the primary beam pass through the object
interact with the body tissue as Compton interaction (scattering) and
strike the image receptor. These scatter photons degrate the image
quality.
• The radiograph image is formed from both direct transmit and indirect
transmitted x-ray photons.
• Primary x-ray photons: is the x-ray radiation that passes through the
window of the tube.
• Exit or image formation photons: is the photons that emerge from
the object without interaction and strike the radiographic image.
attenuation=primary - exit
i Photons #1, #2, #3, # #4 are photons the x-ray primary
source.
ii Photons #1,#2 are the exit photon that passed the patient and
reached the radiograph.
iii Photons #3,#4 are attenuation photons that have interacted
with atoms of the object and been scattered or absorbed which
they didn’t reached the image receptors.
• Radiographic fog: the undesirable, additional density in the image as
a result of scatter radiation, so the reduced amount of scatter radiation
can be produce by small angle scatter (is the a little pending in the
direction of photon without it miss its targets).
Probability
why
of photon interact with matter:
It? is impossible to predict what will happen to a single photon when it
enter the object matter because the interaction of photons with
‫عشوائ‬
biologic matter is ‫يا‬randomly but when dealing with a large number of
electrons it is possible to predict what will happened on the average
for ex: when x-ray beam with 50 kev on average a 66% probability
interaction when it travel through 5 cm of soft tissue.

‫مطلوب‬
‫حفظ‬
there are five basic mechanism by which x-ray interact by various
structures: coherent scattering, Compton scattering, photoelectric
absorption, pair production and photodisintegration, only two are
important in diagnoses image: Compton scattering and photoelectric
absorptions.
 ‫الوار‬
1. Classical scattering: the ‫د‬incident photon interact with target atom,
it may may be transfer its energy by causing it become exitcited and
this atom release this energy as secondary or scattered, photon with
wavelength equal to that of incident photon. as in the antenna of
receiver intercepting radio signal.
• In this kind of scatterings a change in the direction of the emitted
photons very possible with less than 20 degree with respect to
initial direction.
• There is no energy absorbed and therefore no ionization.
• why?disadvantage
Classical scattering is a little important to diagnostic radiology
because it primary involve low-energy x-ray (about 10 kvp) and
some time it affect a small amount of film fog without significant in
advantage
diagnostic imaging.. but it effect the optical phenomena such as sky
being blue, clouds white and the sunset is red.
action: transfer exitcited release
incident photon+target atom energy as secondary or
scattered
2. Photoelectric effect: is the photon absorption
interaction and cause ionizing interaction with shell
electron of target atoms at energy range 23-160 kvp
and the most important mode for producing useful
patient image.
x-ray
• The incoming x-ray photon must be able to transfer a ‫أكبر أو‬
quantity of energy as large as or larger than the ‫يساوي‬
amount of energy that binds the electron in its orbit. ‫طاقة‬
‫ربط‬
• ‫االلكترو‬
The electron removed from the atom called a photoelectron ‫ن‬
escapes with kinetic energy equal to the difference
between the energy of incident x-ray and binding
energy of electron.

photoelectron energy =energy of incident x-ray -binding energy of

electron.
 Characteristic x-ray are produced following a photoelectric
interaction. The ejection of a K-shell photoelectron by the
incident x ray result in vacancy in the k shell in unnatural state
immediately corrected by an outer shell electron usually from
the l shell, dropping into the vacancy..

• This electron transition is accompanied by the emission of an x ray

whose energy is equal to the difference in the binding energies of
the shells involved. This x ray contribute nothing of diagnostic
value
• Auger effect (pronounced "awzhay") occure when an inner electron is removed
from an atom in a photoelectric interaction, thus causing an inner-shell vacancy,
the energy liberated when this vacancy is filled can be transferred to another
electron of the atom, thereby ejecting the electron, instead of emerging from the
atom as fluorescent radiation. Such an emitted electron is called an Auger electron.
‫تلخيص الفقرة في‬
1. ‫متسلسلة‬
inner ‫نقاط‬
electron is removed ‫فيديو توضيحي‬
2. inner-shell vacancy https://
3. this vacancy is filled [Link]/
watch?
4. energy transferred to another electron
v=GKDBv8l3efw
5. ejecting the electron)Auger electron(
• an Auger electron energy is equal to the difference between that released by an
outer electron in filling the initial created vacancy and the binding energy of the
emitted or Auger electron.

Auger electron energy=released by an outer e- in filling-binding energy of the Auger e-

• Because this process does not include any x-ray emission, it is called a
radiationless effect. It reduces the total amount of characteristic radiation produced
by photoelectric interactions
In summary, the by-products of
photoelectric absorption include the
following:
1. Photoelectrons (those induced by
interaction with external radiation and the
internally generated Auger electrons)
2. Characteristic x-ray photons (fluorescent
radiation)
• The percentage of photoelectric interactions generally increase as the
energy of the incident photon decrease and the atomic number of the
irradiated atoms increases.
• The probability of photoelectric interaction is inversely proportional
to the third power of the photon energy which approximately Z4/E3
per atom and Z3/E3 per electron because there are Z electrons per atom
.
• For example the bone with effective atomic number 13.8 undergoes
much more photoelectric absorption nearly 12 times per atom than
equal mass of soft tissue with effective atomic number 7.4 and air
with effective atomic number 7.6.
• A photoelectron interaction cannot occur unless the incident x ray has
energy equal to or greater than the electron binding energy.
• The density of different body structures also influence attenuations, as
the density increase the absorption of the x-ray beam passing increase.
Paraphrase

with energy
• The percentage of photoelectric interactions increases as the photon energy decreases.
• The probability of photoelectric interaction is inversely proportional to the third power of
1
the photon energy . E3

with Atomic Number

• The probability of photoelectric absorption increases significantly with the
atomic number (Z) of the irradiated material.
• Photoelectric Interactions Z4/E3 per atom
• Photoelectric Interactions ‫مهم‬Z3/E3 per electron
• For example the bone with effective atomic number 13.8 undergoes much
more photoelectric absorption nearly 12 times per atom than equal mass of
soft tissue with effective atomic number 7.4 and air with effective atomic
number 7.6.

A photoelectron interaction cannot occur unless the incident x ray has energy equal
to or greater than the electron binding energy.

Tissue density also affects x-ray attenuation. As the density of the body structure
increases, the absorption of the x-ray beam increases.
• Air has a slightly higher effective atomic number (7.6) than soft tissue (7.4);
however, the density of air is approximately 1000 times smaller than that of soft
tissue. Therefore, air absorbs far fewer x-ray photons therefore the lung appears
black in chest scan
• Mass Density of Different Body Structures. As discussed with "air," the
‫ مختل‬dissimilar densities (mass density measured in grams per cubic centimeter) of
‫ ف‬different body structures also influences attenuation.
• A density increase leads to a corresponding increase in atoms with which x-ray
photons can interact and therefore to an increased probability of photon absorption.

density increase increase in atoms increased absorption.

• Thus, in any given sample of biologic material, both density and atomic number
are important in determining attenuation.

soft tissue Air

7.4 7.6 atomic number
higher 1000 times smaller the density
higher air absorbs far fewer x-ray photons absorbs
• For example, if radiography is performed on an equal thickness of bone and soft
tissue, the bone, which is approximately twice as dense as soft tissue, will absorb
about nine times as many photons in the diagnostic energy range as will the soft
tissue.
• A factor of 4.5 is caused by the higher atomic number of the bone, and a factor of
2 is caused by the higher density of bone. The total effect is 2 x 4.5, for an overall
factor of 9
Body Part Thickness.
Thickness of body parts also plays a role. The thickness factor is approximately linear.
If two structures have the same density and atomic number but one is twice as
thick as the other, the thicker structure will absorb twice as many photons
‫االهمية‬
Difference in Absorption Properties among Different Body Structures. Such differences
in absorption properties among different body structures make diagnostically
useful images possible.
Bones to tissues
Thickness increases absorb increases
4.5 factor atomic number
2 factor density
twice dense
nine times absorb
2 x 4.5
 ‫ادراك‬ ‫تميز‬
• In other words, the ability to perceive and distinguish among different body
‫وجود‬
structures in an image depends on the presence of differences in the amount of x-
radiation these structures permit to pass through them to reach the radiographic IR.
• In the digital environment, the term image receptor (IR) exposure is used because
radiographic film is no longer used as the primary IR.
• Brightness: is a monitor function that can change the lightness or darkness of the
image on a display monitor
• The window level sets the midpoint of the range of densities visible on the image.
Adjusting the window level, also known as windowing, refers to changing the
brightness, either to be increased or decreased throughout the entire range of
densities.
• Increasing the window level on the displayed image (increased blackness)
decreases the density on the hard copy image,

window level Direct relationship with blackness

Decreasing the window level on the monitor image (decreased
brightness) increases density on the hard copy.
In both screen-film and digital imaging, the visibility of the image has
always been the result of correct exposure to the IR, which is achieved
by selecting the appropriate mAs
Impact of Photoelectric Absorption on Radiographic Contrast. Within the
energy range of diagnostic radiology, the greater the difference is in the
amount of photoelectric absorption, the greater the contrast in the
radiographic image will be between adjacent structures of differing
atomic numbers.
Use of Contrast Media to Ensure Visualization of Anatomic Structures. If
tissues or structures that are similar in atomic number and mass density
must be distinguished, the photoelectric interaction by itself will not be
sufficient to produce the contrast needed in that tissue or structure to
ensure its visualization in the radiographic image.
 ‫اعتماد‬ ‫حل‬
• So the contrast media has been adopted to resolve the problem, .
Positive contrast media consist of solutions containing elements
having a higher atomic number than surrounding soft tissue (e.g.,
‫تناولها‬
barium or iodine based) that are either ingested or injected into the
tissues or structures to be visualized.
• The high atomic number of the contrast media (barium, Z = 56;
‫يعزز‬ ‫حدوث‬
iodine, Z = 53) significantly enhances the occurrence of photoelectric
interaction relative to similar adjacent structures that do not have the
contrast media.

• In addition, the inner-shell electrons of iodine and barium have a

binding energy that is in the energy range of the x-ray photons that is
most commonly used in general-purpose radiography (30 to 40 keV).
This means that photoelectric absorption of the photons in the x-ray
beam is greatly increased
• The thickness of body part affect the abosrption of the x-ray by factor
is approximately linear.
• The exit radiation from the patient after the x-ray beam interact within
various tissues exist in different energy causing different shades of
grey on image receptor after processing. inside radiation ≠exist
• Notes:
i. the radiographic image is created by passing an x-ray beam through
the patient and interaction with an image receptor, such as a film-
screen system. The variation in absorption and transmission of the
exiting x-ray beam will structurally represent the anatomic area of
interest
• As the greatest different in the amount of photoelectric effect
absorption the greater the contrast in the radiographic image
between adjust structures of different atomic number.
• As the absorption increase the creator potential of biological
damage so the radiographer should choose the higher energy that
permit adequate the radiograph contrast.
iii. Contrast media can be grouped as positive or negative, in general
positive contrast media are those which have an increased
absorption of x-rays and show up as white/grey and negative which
have less absorption and show up as dark/grey.
An example of each are: positive contrast media - iodinated compounds
and barium sulphate, negative contrast media gaseous - air and
gases.
Negative media: air and gases:
Air and gases absorb x-ray to signficantly lesser degree than do soft
tissue, which they appear very dark in radiograph Cavities filled with
air demonstrate will have darker appearance than surrounding tissue.
2. Compton effect: x-ray an interaction with outer shell electron which
reduced the energy of scatter electron and ionizes the atom as well.
• As result of Compton effect the incoming x-ray photon may lose
energy and change it direction. May it directed forward as small angle
scatter, backward as backscatter ,and side as the side scatter.

• The energy of the Compton-scattered x ray is equal to the difference

between the energy of the incident x ray and energy imparted to the
electron, the energy imparted to the electron is equal to its binding
energy plus the kienetic energy with which it leaves the atom.
E scattered=E incident−(E binding+E kinetic) E scattered=E incident−E imparted
• As a result of intensity of radiation scattered in various direction is a
major factors in planning protection for medical imaging personal
during radiographic examinations.

• Compton scattering: contributed to film fog and creating a serious

exposure hazard in radiography and particularly in fluoroscopy.
• A large amount of radiation can be scattered from the patient during
fluoroscopy. Such radiation is the source of most of the occupation
radiation exposure that radiologic technologist received.
• In diagnose radiology the probability of occurrence of Compton
scattering compare to the photoelectric interaction increase as the
energy of x-ray photon increase.
4. Paired production: it occur when the incident x-ray come close to the
nucleus and the interaction between the photon and nuclear force
causes the photon to disappear and placed with positron and electron
called pair production. The minimum energy required to produce an
electron-positron pair is 1.022mev.
5. Photodisintegration: it occur when high energy of incident x-ray
absorbed by the nucleus of matter which raised the nucleus to an
excited state and instantaneously emit a nucleon or other nuclear
fragment.
• the pair production and photodisintegration are unimportant in
diagnoses radiology because they involve only in higher energy for
paired electron the energy greater than 1.02 Mev