Question

which of the following would decrease patient exposure and increase the quality of the x - ray beam?
increased distance
increased filtration
decreased distance
decreased filtration

Explanation:

Increasing filtration in x - ray systems removes low - energy photons from the x - ray beam. This decreases patient exposure as the low - energy photons that are not useful for imaging but contribute to patient dose are removed. At the same time, it increases the average energy of the remaining photons in the beam, thus improving the quality of the x - ray beam. Increasing distance decreases exposure but doesn't directly improve beam quality in the same way as filtration. Decreasing distance increases exposure and decreasing filtration would increase the number of low - energy photons, reducing beam quality and increasing exposure.

Answer:

Increased filtration