Table 2 Results of the reader study examining attenuation radiographs.

From: Correlation of image quality parameters with tube voltage in X-ray dark-field chest radiography: a phantom study

 

Lung signal

Bone overlay

Image quality

Sharpness

50 kVp

4.0 (3.0–4.5)

3.8 (3.0–4.0)

4.5 (3.0–6.0)

6.0 (5.5–6.0)

60 kVp

4.0 (3.0–5.5)

4.0 (3.0–4.5)

5.5 (3.0–6.0)

6.0 (6.0–6.0)

70 kVp

4.5 (3.0–6.0)

3.5 (3.0–5.0)

5.5 (3.0–6.0)

6.0 (5.8–6.0)

80 kVp

5.0 (3.0–6.0)

3.0 (3.0–5.5)

6.0 (3.0–6.0)

5.5 (5.0–5.8)

90 kVp

5.0 (3.3–6.0)

4.0 (3.0–5.5)

5.5 (4.0–6.0)

5.0 (4.0–5.8)

100 kVp

5.5 (4.3–6.0)

4.3 (3.0–6.0)

6.0 (5.0–6.0)

5.0 (4.0–5.8)

110 kVp

6.0 (5.3–6.0)

5.3 (2.0–6.0)

6.0 (6.0–6.0)

5.0 (3.0–5.5)

120 kVp

6.0 (5.3–6.0)

5.3 (2.0–6.0)

6.0 (6.0–6.0)

5.0 (3.0–5.5)

125 kVp

6.0 (5.3–6.0)

5.3 (2.0–6.0)

6.0 (5.6–6.0)

4.0 (3.0–5.0)

  1. All values are given in median (range) of the three readers after calculation the mean of their readings. The highest subjective lung signal and subjective image quality were found for high tube voltages. The highest sharpness scores were found for low tube voltages with the highest bone signal score at 50 kVp. Despite the high subjective bone signal, the rating for bone overlay (meaning how well the lung is visible despite the bone overly) only showed small differences between the tube voltages, ranging from a mean of 3.8 (at 50 kVp) to 5.3 (at 110–125 kVp).
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