Resident Physics Lectures

Attenuation of X-rays
Prof. J.K Tonui, PhD

School of Medicine,
Department of Radiology & Imaging
 Learning Objectives
 At the end of this lecture, the student is expected to:

 Define attenuation;

 Know the characteristics of x-ray beams;

 Understand monochromatic and polychromatic x-ray beams;

 Define linear and mass attenuation coefficients;

 Define Half Value Layer (HVL) and

 Calculate various aspects of attenuation of x-rays when passing

through matter.
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 Introduction
 Attenuation

 Is defined as the gradual loss in intensity of any kind of

energy flux when it travels thro’ a medium,

 For example, sunlight is attenuated by dark (sun) glasses,

x-rays are attenuated by lead or human body etc, and

 Hence, when x-rays pass thro’ the pt.’s body, the intensity of

exiting radiation is less than that of incident radiation.

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 Radiation interaction with matter
 When x-rays interact with body tissues,

 They are attenuated as they pass thro’ the pt.’s body, and

 The amount of attenuation increases as the X-ray beam passes

thro’ longer paths in the pt.’s body and

 Basically, each interaction of an X-ray photon with an atom of

the tissue removes an X-ray photon from the beam, which

results in decrease in x-ray beam intensity.

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 Beam Characteristics
 Quantity
 Refers to the number of photons in the x-ray beam

1, 2, 3, ...
~
~
~ ~
~
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 Beam Characteristics
 Quality
 Refers to the energy distribution of photons in the x-ray beam

1 @ 27 keV, 2 @ 32 Energy Spectrum

keV, 2 at 39 keV, ...

~ ~
~ ~ 10 20 30 40 50
Energy
60 70 80

~
~ ~
~
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 Beam Characteristics
 Intensity
 Weighted product of number and energy of photons and
 Equal to the product of quantity and quality.

324 mR

~
~ ~
~ ~ ~
~ ~
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 What is a Roentgen?
 Roentgen

 Is a unit of measurement

for amount of ionizing

radiation that produces 2.58
x 10-4 Coulomb/kg of air
@ STP
 1 C ~ 6.241509324×1018

electrons

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 Beam Intensity
 Beam Intensity

 Can be measured in terms of # of ions created in air by

beam and
 Is valid for monochromatic as well as polychromatic beams.

324 mR
-
~
+

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 Monochromatic Radiation
 Monochromatic radiation

 Are produced by radioisotope but not x-ray beam and

 All photons in a beam have same energy.

 Attenuation results in

 Change in beam quantity but

 No change in beam quality, that is

 The # of photons & total energy of beam changes by

same fraction.

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 Attenuation of Photons in Matter
 As a result of interactions between photons and
tissues,
 The intensity of the beam (i.e. the number of

photons remaining in the beam), decreases as the

beam passes thro’ body as shown in this Fig.

 This loss of photons

 Is called attenuation, and

 The matter through which the beam passes is Concept of

Attenuation
called attenuator.

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 Attenuation Coefficient
 Attenuation coefficient

 Is a parameter indicating the fraction of radiation attenuated by

a given absorber thickness, and

Is a function of:

o Absorber, and

o Photon energy.

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 Factors Affecting Attenuation

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 Linear Attenuation Coefficient
 Why called linear?

 distance expressed in linear dimension “x”

 Formula

N = No e –mx
where

N = number of incident photons

o N N
N = number of transmitted photons o
e = base of natural logarithm (2.718…)

m = linear attenuation coefficient (1/cm); property of

energy material x
x = absorber thickness (cm)

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 Linear Attenuation Coefficient
 Larger attenuation coefficient  more attenuation

 Units:
N = No e - m x
 1 / cm ( or 1 / distance)

 Properties

 Reciprocal of absorber thickness that reduces beam intensity by e (~2.718…)

o ~63% reduction

o 37% of original intensity remaining

 As photon beam energy increases

o penetration increases or attenuation decreases, i.e. attenuating distance increases and

o linear attenuation coefficient decreases

 Note: Same equation as used for radioactive decay

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 Mass Attenuation Coefficient
 Mass attenuation coefficient

 Is defined as linear attenuation coefficient divided by density

o i.e. normalized with density

 It expresses attenuation of a material regardless (independent)

of it physical state.

 Note that

 Most references often give mass attenuation coefficient but

 The linear attenuation coefficient is be more useful in radiology.

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 Linear & Mass Attenuation Coefficient
 Linear attenuation • Mass attenuation coefficient
coefficient (m) (mm)
 units: 1 / cm  Define as:
 absorber thickness(x) o mm= m /,

 linear o = is density of tissue

 units: cm  Units: cm 2 / g

o i.e. linear attenuation

coefficient divided density
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 Worked Example
 Question:

 A 2 mm thickness of tissue transmits 25 % of monochromatic

beam of radiation. Calculate the HVL of the beam.

 Solution:

 Start with attenuation equation and substitute the known

values, i.e. Iout/Iin = 25% = 0.25, x = 2 mm = 0. 2 cm hence

determine m, from which find HVL.
 mx
I out = I ine
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 Monochromatic Radiation
 Fig. below shows

 A graph of attenuation of a monochromatic x-ray beam as they

pass through an attenuator thickness, where

 We see that the no. penetrating reduces.

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 Monochromatic Radiation
 A plot of no. remaining as a function of attenuator thickness

 Yields straight line on semi-log graph as shown below

Fraction .1
(also fraction of
energy) .01
Remaining or
Transmitted
.001

1 2 3 4 5
Attenuator Thickness
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 Polychromatic Radiation
 X-Ray beam contains spectrum of photon energies

 Highest energy = peak kilovoltage (kVp) applied to tube and

 The mean energy is usually between 1/3 - 1/2 of peak, but

o Depends also on filtration

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 X-Ray Beam Attenuation
 The reduction in x-ray beam intensity is caused by Lower Higher
Energy Energy
 absorption (photoelectric)

 deflection (scattering)

 Attenuation alters beam

 quantity

 quality
o higher fraction of low energy photons removed (see fig.)
and results
o Beam Hardening

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 Half Value Layer (HVL)
 HVL

 Is defined as absorber thickness that reduces beam intensity by

exactly a half, and

 Has units of thickness and

 Is the value of “x” which makes N equal to No / 2

N = No e -mx HVL=0.693/m

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 Half Value Layer (HVL)
 Valid concept for all beam types

 Mono-energetic, and

 Poly-energetic.

 HVL

 Indicates the beam quality, where

o Higher value means more penetrating beam and

o Lower attenuation coefficient.

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 Factors Affecting Attenuation
 Attenuation

 Depends on both x-ray beam and matter (body tissue), where

 Energy of radiation or beam quality – higher energy means

more penetration and hence less attenuation.

 Body tissue -

o Density ()

o atomic number (Z)

o electrons per gram (e/g)

o Where higher density, atomic number, or electrons per gram increases

attenuation.
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 Polychromatic Attenuation
 A plot of penetrating beam
 Yields curved line on semi-log graph as shown below;
 The line straightens with increasing attenuation, but
 The slope approaches that of monochromatic beam at the peak
energy (see figure).
 The mean energy increases with attenuation
 beam hardening
1

Fraction .1
Transmitted Polychromatic
.01

Monochromatic
.001

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Attenuator Thickness
 Photoelectric vs. Compton
 Fractional contribution of each is determined
by
The photon energy and
The atomic number of absorber.
 The Equation describing attenuation w.r.t to each
interactions is:
m = mcoherent + mPE + mCompton
Small

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 Photoelectric vs. Compton

 As photon energy m = mcoherent + mPE + mCompton

increases
 Both PE & Compton
decrease, but Interaction
 PE decreases faster Probability
o Fraction of m that is
Compton increases
o Fraction of m that is PE
Compton
decreases

Photoelectric

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 Photoelectric vs. Compton

m = mcoherent + mPE + mCompton

 As atomic # increases
 Fraction of m that is PE increases and
 Fraction of m that is Compton decreases

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 Interaction Probability
Atomic
Number of
Absorber
Photoelectric

Pair
Production
Compton

Photon Energy

• PE dominates for very low energies

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 Interaction Probability

Atomic
Number of
Absorber Pair
Photoelectric Production

Compton

Photon Energy

• For lower atomic numbers

– Compton dominates for high energies
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 Interaction Probability
Atomic Photoelectric
Number of
Absorber Pair
Production

Compton

Photon Energy
• For high atomic # absorbers
– PE dominates throughout diagnostic energy range
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 Attenuation & Density
 Attenuation proportional to density, hence

 The difference in tissue densities accounts for much of optical

density (OD) difference seen in radiographs (x-ray films)

 # of Compton interactions depends on electrons/unit path,

which in turn depends on:

 Electrons per gram and

 Density

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 Relationships
 Density generally

 Increases with atomic # and

 Different states have got different density, e.g.

 The 3-states of water (ice, water, steam) have got different densities

 Note that

 There is no relationship between density and electrons per gram and

 Atomic # vs. electrons / gram

o hydrogen ~ 2X electrons / gram as most other substances and

o as atomic # increases, electrons / gram decreases slightly

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 Applications
 As photon energy increases

 Subject (and image) contrast decreases

 differential absorption decreases

100
90
o at 20 keV bone’s linear attenuation 80
70
60
coefficient 6 X water’s 50 Bone
40 Water
30
o at 100 keV bone’s linear attenuation 20
10
coefficient 1.4 X water’s 0
20 keV 100 ke

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 Applications Photo-
electric Pair
Production

Compton

 At low x-ray energies

 attenuation differences between bone & soft tissue primarily caused
by photoelectric effect
o related to atomic number & density

 At high x-ray energies

 attenuation differences between bone & soft tissue primarily caused
by Compton scatter
o related entirely to density

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 Applications
 Difference between water & fat only visible at low energies

 effective atomic # of water slightly higher

o yields photoelectric difference

 electrons / cm almost equal

o No Compton difference

 Photoelectric dominates at low energy

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 K-Edge
 Each electron shell has threshold for PE effect

 Photon energy must be >= binding energy of electron shell

 For photon energy > K-shell binding energy

 k-shell electrons are candidates for PE

 PE interactions increase as photon energy exceeds k-shell

binding energy

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 K-Edge
 step increase in attenuation at K-edge energy

 K-shell electrons become available for interaction

 exception to rule of decreasing attenuation with increasing

energy

Linear
Attenuation K-edge
Coefficient

Energy

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 K-Edge Significance
 K-edge energy

 insignificantly low for low Z materials and

 Is in diagnostic range for high Z materials

 higher attenuation above k-edge useful in

 contrast agents

 rare earth screens

 Mammography beam filters

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 Scatter Radiation
 NO Socially Redeeming Qualities

 no useful information on image

 detracts from film quality

 exposes personnel, public

 represents 50-90% of photons exiting patient

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 Abdominal Photons
 ~1% of incident photons on adult abdomen reach film

 fate of the other 99%

 mostly scatter

o most do not reach film

 absorption

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 Scatter Factors
 Factors affecting scatter

 field size

 thickness of body part

 kVp

An increase in any of above increases scatter.

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 Scatter & Field Size
 Reducing field size causes significant reduction in scatter
radiation

II II
Tube Tube

X-Ray X-Ray
Tube Tube

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 Field Size & Scatter
 Field Size & thickness determine volume of irradiated

tissue

 Scatter increase with increasing field size

 initially large increase in scatter with increasing field size

 saturation reached (at ~ 12 X 12 inch field)

 further field size increase does not increase scatter reaching film

 scatter shielded within patient

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 Thickness & Scatter

 Increasing patient thickness

 Leads to increased scatter, but

 Saturation point reached, where

 Scatter photons produced far from film and

 shielded within body

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 kVp & Scatter
 kVp has less effect on scatter than
 field size

 thickness

 Increasing kVp
 increases scatter

 more photons scatter in forward direction

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 Scatter Management
 Reduce scatter by minimizing

 field size

o within limits of exam

 thickness

o mammography compression

 kVp

o low kVp increases patient dose

o in practice we maximize kVp

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 Scatter Control Techniques: Grid
 Scatter is controlled by using grid

 directional filter for photons

 Increases patient dose

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 Angle of Escape
 angle over which scattered radiation misses primary
field
 escape angle larger for
 small fields
Larger Angle of Escape
 larger distances from film

X
X

Film
Film
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 Scatter Control Techniques: Air Gap
 Gap intentionally

 left between patient & image

receptor

 Natural result

 of magnification radiography

 Grid not used

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