Which statement describes how high DQE affects exposure?

• A. Lower exposure required with high DQE
• B. Higher exposure required with high DQE
• C. DQE has no relation to exposure
• D. DQE measures detector color accuracy

Answer: (A)

DQE reflects how efficiently a detector converts x-ray energy into a useful image signal while suppressing noise. When DQE is high, more of the incoming signal is preserved and noise is reduced, so the same diagnostic image quality can be achieved with less radiation exposure. DQE is not about color accuracy, which is unrelated to grayscale radiographic imaging. So, high DQE leading to lower required exposure is the correct idea.