Final answer:
To decrease the integral patient dose without losing image brightness, increasing the distance of the image intensifier from the patient is effective, as it utilizes the inverse square law, which dictates that radiation intensity decreases with the square of the distance from the source.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student is asking about methods that can decrease the integral patient dose of radiation without decreasing image brightness during medical imaging procedures, such as X-rays. To achieve this, certain radiation protection measures can be applied:
- Decreasing the x-ray field size helps to limit the exposure area and thus reduces the dose to the patient, without affecting the image brightness of the areas still being imaged.
- Increase the distance of the image intensifier tube from the patient. According to the inverse square law, increasing the distance from the radiation source results in a dramatic decrease in radiation intensity, which in turn reduces the patient dose.
- Increasing the kVp (kilovoltage peak) allows for a lower concentration of radiation to produce the same image brightness, although it may also affect other image qualities.
Option 2, increasing the distance of the image intensifier tube from the patient, is a direct application of one of the fundamental principles of radiation protection — distancing. By positioning the image intensifier further from the patient, the radiation dose can be reduced according to the inverse square law, without diminishing the resulting image brightness.