Image Quality of Radiographs at the Hospital de la Madre y el niño (HMYN). La Rioja. 2022

Abstract

High-quality imaging enables the distinction between disease and health states, accurately informs the relevant structures for diagnosis, classifies different types of abnormalities, and reliably detects critical structures in the image. This presents a challenge in pediatric radiology. Objective: To analyze the quality of chest (frontal projection), abdomen, pelvis, and skull radiographs in patients aged 0 to 14 years who attended the Imaging Diagnostic Service at HMYN on the 15th of each month from July to December 2022.

This observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study uses the radiographic image archive system of the Imaging Diagnostic Service at HMYN as the data source. The Visual Grading Analysis (VGA) methodology is applied to evaluate the radiographic image quality, following the European Guidelines on Quality Criteria for Diagnostic Radiographic Images in Pediatrics (1996). Each criterion is classified according to a five-point ordinal scale, from which absolute VGA scores are calculated: Regional Quality Index (RQI) and General Quality Index (GQI). Absolute and relative frequencies of image quality are presented by region, sex, and age group: newborn, infants (from 1 month to 4 years), older children (5 to 10 years), and adolescents (11 to 14 years).

The quality of the images included in the study (N=100) was good or very good in 48%, while 34% were of insufficient quality for an adequate diagnosis. No differences were found by sex. Regarding the regions, 50% of skull radiographs were adequate, and 45.5% of chest radiographs in children older than 1 month were of acceptable quality.

The radiographs performed at HMYN in La Rioja reliably detected relevant structures in the image in half of the cases studied.