Investigation of the image quality of plain abdominal radiographs in three Nigerian hospitals

Abstract

Purpose: A retrospective study of image quality of abdominal radiographs to establish a baseline for the development of quality control programmes in Nigerian hospitals. Materials and Method: Subjective evaluation of 210 plain abdominal radiographs produced between 2002 and 2004, and drawn from the film libraries of the hospitals, a teaching hospital (TH), a specialist hospital (SH) and a private clinic (PC) was carried out by four radiographers and three radiologists, using basic radiographic criteria such as collimation, optical film density, positioning, use of and correct placement of gonad shields, as well as criteria for image quality defined by the Commission for European Communities. Films were assessed as adequate, not adequate and poor for the radiographic/ technical parameters, and scored 1 to 4 in an ascending order of performance for image quality. They were then ranked in order of overall quality. Pooled results were studied by method of analysis of means. Results: Results generally showed good radiographic image performance for pooled data. Respective hospital performance was best for TH for most of the data assessed. Based on individual parameters, the study found 6.61% of the total number of films 'rejectable'. Of the 210 radiographs studied, 107 satisfied all the criteria for good quality images. Conclusion: Findings underscore the need for implementing quality control programmes using the results of this study as a baseline. © 2007 Biomedical Imaging and Intervention Journal. All rights reserved.