Effectiveness of protective thyroid shield in chest X-ray imaging.

Chest X-ray imaging is the most common X-ray imaging method for diagnosing coronavirus disease. The thyroid gland is one of the most radiation-sensitive organs of the body, particularly in infants and children. Therefore, it must be protected during chest X-ray imaging. Yet, because it has benefits and drawbacks, using a thyroid shield as protection during chest X-ray imaging is still up for debate.Therefore, this study aims to clarify the need for using a protective thyroid shield during chest X-ray imaging. This study was performed using different dosimeters (silica beads as a thermoluminescent dosimeter and an optically stimulated luminance dosimeter) embedded in an adult male ATOM dosimetric phantom. The phantom was irradiated using a portable X-ray machine with and without thyroid shielding. The dosimeter readings indicated that a thyroid shield reduced the radiation dose to the thyroid gland by 69% ± 18% without degrading the obtained radiograph. The use of a protective thyroid shield during chest X-ray imaging is recommended because its benefits outweigh the risks.

Breast tissue contrast-simulating materials using energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction.

Breast lesions and normal tissues have different molecular arrangements that affect their diffraction patterns. Different mouldable and non-mouldable materials were analysed using an energy dispersive X-ray diffraction system based on a conventional X-ray source (operated at 70 kVp) and a CdTe detector (Amptek XT-100), including a conventional spectroscopic chain. Combinations of materials were identified to have a contrast comparable to that achieved in diffraction imaging for different breast tissues at the momentum transfer values carrying the greatest amount of information (1.1 nm(-1) and 1.6 nm(-1)).

Development and characterization of a laboratory based X-ray diffraction imaging system for material and tissue characterization.

Soft tissues feature a degree of short-range order, giving rise to diffraction patterns with broader peaks than crystalline materials. For this reason, an X-ray diffraction system (XRD) for characterization of soft tissue has less stringent requirements in terms of momentum transfer resolution than the one aimed at characterizing crystalline materials. We present results on the characterization of two energy-dispersive XRD systems. The first was based on conical collimation at 5.9° and the second was based on linear collimation at varying angles between 2° and 10°. The systems include a CdTe detector and a W-anode X-ray source. The angular resolution was measured as a function of sample thickness and scattering angle. Preliminary results confirm the effectiveness of the method for the characterization of biological tissues, showing insensitivity to small changes in angular acceptance and sample thickness, also showing it is possible to combine scattering data obtained at different angles.