Abstract
Present status of development of flat panel detectors and their clinical application in the world have been surveyed, and future trends are also explored especially in the field of material researches and methods of manufacturing. Also the importance of role of medical physicists in user side is described because characteristic physics measurement of a detector assembly is in avoidable and essential in quality assurance in clinical routine and acceptance test in hospitals.
Even though physics measurements and cli-nical evaluations on flat panel detectors have shown remarkable progress and advances in these several years, future problems of cost down in manufacturing and quality assurance to prevent individual differences between detector assem-blies must be resolved.
Results of evaluation in mammography, chest radiography, fluoroscopy for cardiovascular exa-mination, bone tumor examination and radiotherapy application indicate that flat panel detectors are future promising materials. Their systematic operation is contributing to heighten accuracy of image examinations and preciseness of radiation therapy. Encouragement to medical physicists relevant to flat panel detectors is also raised in this paper.
