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.