Quality control of radiography equipments in golestan province of IRAN

Introduction: The main goal of this study was to perform quality control test on all radiography units operating in Golestan province of IRAN. Materials and Methods: Forty-four X-ray units were examined based on general accepted programs for quality control. Eight parameters including kVp accuracy, kVp reproducibility, mA-time reciprocity, exposure linearity, exposure reproducibility, timer accuracy, filtration, and beam alignment were measured and calculated. Measurements were carried out by a Baracuda X-ray beam analyzer. Results: Variance of kVp reproducibility was acceptable in 100% of equipments. kVp accuracy was found to be unsatisfactory in 29.5% of equipments. Variance of mA-time reciprocity was measured to be within reliable limits. Thirty-nine percent of radiography equipments showed non-linear exposure attitude while 16.7 % of them exhibited unacceptable reproducibility of exposure. Moreover, beam misalignment was met in 29.5% of equipments. In 43.2% of radiography equipments, timer accuracy was out of permissible range. Conclusion: Timer inaccuracy seems to be a common problem for X-ray units. Exposure non-linearity, mA-time nonreciprocity, kVp inaccuracy, beam misalignment, and finally non-reproducibility of exposure were found to have less importance.