Investigation of Quality Control Measurements with Aging X-Ray Machines

Abstract

The investigation of Quality Control measurement (QC) with ageing x-ray machines was undertaken. Ten x-ray machines were examined across different hospitals within  Makurdi metropolis, Benue State  using Gammex 330 kV meter and ten (10) X-ray Machines in government hospitals (GH) and private hospitals (PH) with age’s (4-12) years for new X-ray Machines and (22-47) years for aged X-ray Machines. With these, on the quality of diagnostic X-rays and patient’s dose were examined separately when a graph of age of the machine was plotted against the power n of the kVp and a graph of machines age was plotted against radiation intensity. Based on the analysis obtained in this study, the value of n for the new machines with ages (5-12) years has a value of  and aged machines with ages (22-47) years has a value of. This shows that there is a relationship between age and n. In conclusion, the findings of the present study showed that the output radiation dose of new and aged x-ray units differs at the same kVp and mAs measurements, indicating that the x-ray tube deteriorates as its ages increase, thereby posing higher health risk to patients and as such, the study recommends that QC measurement be undertaken on x-ray machines at definite stages of the machines life to verify the effects of aging of a machine on patient's dose.