Qualitative study of mechanical parameters of conventional diagnostic X-ray machines in Mizoram

The present study examined the mechanical attributes of 135 conventional diagnostic X-ray machines in Mizoram, India. The purpose of studying the X-ray mechanical parameters, such as congruency, perpendicularity of the central beam, and half-value layer, was to improve the quality of the diagnostic image and reduce the patient dose. A battery-operated portable dosimeter was used to measure output radiation of the X-ray machine. The half-value layer was measured at a constant accelerating potential of 70 kVp and tube load. To measure the congruency and beam alignment perpendicularity, a congruence and alignment tool was used. The survey data were collected between June 2015 and June 2016. The authors followed international standard test procedures, and the results were compared to national and international standards. SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 17 was used to calculate the mean, range, and standard deviation. The half-value layer ranged from 0.45 to 3.00 mm; the mean half-value layer was 1.60 ± 0.51 SD mm. In comparison with national and international standards, only 27.83% (national) and 15.64% (international) of the machines’ filtration were found to be within acceptable limits. The congruence misalignment of the x-axis varied between 0.50% and 15.30% of the source-to-image distance; for the y-axis, it ranged from 0.50 to 10.90%. When the congruence between the radiation beam and optical field was tested, 80.85% of diagnostic X-ray machines did not meet the prescribed acceptance parameters. When the perpendicularity between the central beam and the image receptor was tested, 69.81% did not meet safety standards.