Introduction: Chest radiography is the most common X-ray examination worldwide, which makes optimization of imaging protocols crucial in order to achieve the lowest possible radiation dose while maintaining adequate image quality. Purpose: The aim of the study is to determine how the dose changes in two-view chest radiography when using additional copper filtration, and whether image quality is affected. Methods: The study was conducted in two parts. In the first part, the study was carried out using an anthropomorphic phantom. The second part of the study was carried out on 400 patients, who were randomly divided into four groups according to filtration thickness (0 mm, 0.1 mm, 0.2 mm, 0.3 mm). We measured DAP, and from it calculated ESD, effective dose, and absorbed organ doses that we calculated using the PCXMX 2.0 program. SNR and CNR values were assessed on all radiographs using the ImageJ program. Radiographs of 200 patients were visually evaluated by three board-certified radiologists using the ViewDex 3.0 program. Results: The patient study showed that radiation dose decreased significantly at all filtration thicknesses in both projections. The greatest reduction in DAP was seen with 0.3 mm filtration (48.34% in PA and 46.11% in lateral projection). Similarly, ESD, effective dose and absorbed organ doses were reduced. Regarding SNR measurements, the largest decrease was observed in the lateral projection with 0.3 mm copper filtration. For other quantitative image-quality parameters (EXI, DI, CNR, SNR), no substantial differences were observed. Radiologists visual assessments showed statistically significant differences in the criterion overall image quality between the 0 mm and 0.3 mm groups. Discussion and conclusion: This study proved that the addition of copper filtration affects multiple aspects of patient radiation dose. DAP, ESD, effective dose, and absorbed organ doses were all reduced. Despite these reductions, image quality did not substantially deteriorate. Based on the results, the use of additional copper filtration appears reasonable, with 0.3 mm providing the greatest dose reduction without significant image-quality degradation.
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