Which of the following factors can be directly influenced by x-ray personnel during day-to-day use of x-ray equipment?

• A. Collimation and patient positioning
• B. Collimation and filtration
• C. Patient positioning and filtration
• D. Collimation, patient positioning, and filtration

Answer: (A)

The key idea is that radiologic technologists actively shape the beam and the patient’s alignment in routine practice. Collimation is about trimming the X-ray field to the area of interest, which reduces dose to non-target tissues and minimizes scatter, while also helping ensure that the anatomy fits appropriately on the image receptor. Patient positioning is about how the patient is placed and oriented so that the correct projection of anatomy is captured and accurately represented on the image, influencing magnification, distortion, and diagnostic usefulness.

Filtration refers to the beam’s filtration (filters) that affect beam quality and patient dose, but changing filtration is not something adjusted during everyday imaging by the technologist; it’s typically fixed in the equipment or adjusted only in special circumstances under service protocols. So the day-to-day factors you can directly influence are collimation and patient positioning.