PENETRABILITY AND X-RAY ENERGY

• As the energy of an x-ray beam is increased, the penetrability of the beam through the patient or shielding material is also increased.
• Penetrability refers to the ability of x-rays to penetrate deeper in tissue and to be transmitted through the patient to the image receptor.
• High-energy x-rays are able to penetrate tissue more deeply than low-energy x-rays.
• X-rays with high penetrability are sometimes referred to as high quality x-rays.
• X-rays with low penetrability are referred to as low-quality x-rays.
• Factors that affect x-ray beam energy also influence image contrast.
• The factors influencing x-ray beam energy are kVp and added filtration.
• Distance, mA, and mAs do not affect radiation energy; they do affect radiation intensity.