Publication date: Jan 02, 2025

Quality assurance (QA) in medical imaging ensures consistently high-quality images at acceptable radiation doses. However, the applicability of the chest X-ray (CXR) QA tool in images with pathology, particularly infectious diseases like COVID-19, has not been explored. This study examines the utility of the European Guidelines for image quality in QA of CXRs with varying severity and types of infectious disease. A convenient sampling methodology was employed to recruit 25 participants (qualified radiographers: n = 13 and 4th-year undergraduate radiography students: n = 12) to evaluate 70 CXR images using the European Guidelines for image quality in CXRs. The image dataset comprised of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 cases, which were randomly selected to reflect routine clinical practice variability. Participants independently rated image quality based on 10 criteria in the European guidelines on quality criteria for CXRs using a six-point Likert scale. Image quality ratings of normal and pathological CXR images were compared using a Kruskal-Wallis test. Spearman’s ranked order correlation was used to assess the association between quality criteria ratings. CXRs with no pathology or non-COVID pathologies exhibited statistically higher total QA scores compared to CXRs with COVID-19 and indeterminate COVID-19 (P 

Semantics

Original Article