What must a properly designed automatic brightness stabilization (ABS) system consider?

A properly designed automatic brightness stabilization (ABS) system is essential for maintaining appropriate image quality in fluoroscopy while minimizing radiation exposure to the patient. The system must balance several factors to achieve its purpose effectively.

Firstly, it is crucial for the ABS to display operating exposure settings to the fluoroscopist. By doing so, the fluoroscopist can make informed decisions about the imaging process and adjust settings as needed based on the patient's specific circumstances. This transparency helps ensure that radiation doses are kept to a minimum while still obtaining the necessary diagnostic quality images.

Secondly, the ABS system must also account for the balance between patient radiation dose and image quality. This balance is fundamental because increasing the image quality often requires higher radiation doses; however, it's important to minimize this exposure to protect the patient. A well-designed ABS system will find this optimal point, enabling high-quality images without unnecessary radiation.

In considering both the need for clear communication of exposure settings and the critical balance of radiation dose against image quality, the combination of these factors solidifies the importance of both aspects in the design of an effective automatic brightness stabilization system. This is why the inclusion of both points is the correct choice in understanding the design principles of ABS systems in fluoroscopy.