Evaluation of a new phosphor plate technology for neonatal portable chest radiographs

Rationale and objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate a new thick-needle phosphor plate for computed radiography.

Materials and methods: Two studies were performed. Patients acted as their own controls. In the first study, old powder and new needle phosphor plate technologies were compared. Twenty infants were identified who had undergone chest x-rays with both systems within 3 days of each other. Exposure factors were constant. In the second study, standard and reduced exposure techniques (tube current-time product reduced by 20%) using the needle phosphor technology were compared. Twenty babies who had been imaged with both standard and reduced exposures within 3 days of each other were evaluated.

Results: There was a significant preference for images obtained with the new needle phosphor technology compared with the older powder technology (P < .01). Using the new needle phosphor plates, a dose reduction of 20% could be achieved without a significant detectable difference between the high-dose and low-dose images (P < .19).

Conclusions: For the study comparing old and new phosphor plate technology at fixed exposure, images were better with the new technology. Using the new plate technology, dose can be decreased by ≥20%.