Spatial resolution is the measurement of the smallest object that can be resolved by the sensor. It is also the level of resolution within an image. There are several aspects that can affect the level of spatial resolution of an image.
The first one is the focal spot size, because when you increase the focal spot size you are going to decrease the spatial resolution. This is because when you increase the focal spot size it will influence the amount of space that would not receive radiation if a smaller focal spot size was chosen.
The next thing that will affect the spatial resolution is the increase or decrease in the source to image distance. This effect is because of the inverse square law which states that an increase in distance will decrease intensity, demonstrating that an increase in SID will increase spatial resolution. The same goes for a decrease in SID which will decrease spatial resolution.
Object to image distance is also something that will affect spatial resolution. Increasing OID will decrease spatial resolution and this is because the image will not have crisp clean edges. One way to fix this is to move the object closer to the image receptor and in turn, this will increase spatial resolution while decreasing magnification.
Finally, the last part that will have an effect on spatial resolution is the patient thickness. This is a factor that the technologist can not avoid and that is because they have no control over how thick a patient’s body is. One way to combat this is to use a caliper and the corresponding X-ray factors.
X-ray X-pert 