The Acrylic Compensation Filter Design Enhances the X-Ray Image of the Ossa Manus in Posteroanterior Projection

This study aims to obtain a better contrast in the film image on X-ray examination of the ossa manus in posteroanterior projection with the addition of an acrylic compensating filter. An investigation was carried out using the phantom manus object on the Quantum CS-2 X-ray apparatus in the examination room 1 of the Margono Soekarjo Hospital (RSMS) by adding acrylic material on the outside of the collimator with a thickness ranging from 2 mm to 22 mm as a determinant of the thickness of the compensation filter. The radiographs were processed by a CR reader and imported into the Weasis software version 2.0.7 to analyze their pixel values. The results showed different compensatory filter thicknesses in the carpal and distal phalanges. An acrylic compensation filter with a thickness of 2.32 cm was considered optimal to compensate for the distal phalanges area and 0.08 cm for the carpal area in the phantom manus with an exposure factor of 55 kV and five mAs.