If the mAs is doubled, what happens to the dose to the patient?

When the milliampere-seconds (mAs) is doubled, the dose to the patient also doubles. This is because the mAs value directly corresponds to the amount of X-ray exposure delivered to the patient during a radiographic procedure.

In radiography, the mAs represents the product of the tube current (in milliamperes) and the exposure time (in seconds). Increasing the mAs results in a greater number of X-ray photons being produced. Since the number of X-ray photons is proportional to the radiation dose received by the patient, doubling the mAs leads to a doubling of the radiation dose.

Understanding this relationship is crucial in radiological practice, as it allows operators to manage patient exposure effectively while still achieving the necessary image quality for diagnostic purposes. Thus, with an increase in mAs, there is a direct and proportional increase in the radiation dose to the patient.