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Estimation of the life expectancy of a filament of the conventional X-ray unit: a technical case study

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Abstract

Conventional diagnostic X-ray units are used for radiographic imaging in several countries. As a part of our quality control procedures, we recorded entrance surface air kerma, tube voltage, and half-value layer measurements for four diagnostic X-ray tubes over a 108 week course. The entrance surface air kerma for one of the X-ray tubes suddenly declined in the 107th week, and the filament burned out 1 week later. We retrospectively reviewed these data and observed that the entrance surface air kerma of the failing tube had increased as a function of elapsed time. The slopes for these four X-ray units were calculated, and we observed that the slope of the failing tube was higher than that of the other three tubes (P < 0.001). Monitoring of the fluctuation in the entrance surface air kerma would be valuable for predicting the residual life expectancy of X-ray tubes.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Shiga Medical Center for Children, 5-7-30, Moriyama, Moriyama, Shiga, 524-0022, Japan

    Atsushi Fukuda

  2. Division of Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kanazawa University, 5-11-80, Kodatsuno, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, 920-0942, Japan

    Atsushi Fukuda, Kosuke Matsubara & Tosiaki Miyati

Authors
  1. Atsushi Fukuda
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  2. Kosuke Matsubara
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  3. Tosiaki Miyati
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Correspondence to Atsushi Fukuda.

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Fukuda, A., Matsubara, K. & Miyati, T. Estimation of the life expectancy of a filament of the conventional X-ray unit: a technical case study. Radiol Phys Technol 8, 107–110 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12194-014-0297-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12194-014-0297-7

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