What does lateral decentering result in during imaging?

Lateral decentering in imaging causes uniform loss of radiation across the entire film due to the misalignment of the x-ray beam with the imaging receptor. When the x-ray tube is not properly centered over the film or detector, the beam does not evenly cover the area it is intended to image. This misalignment leads to a more consistent decrease in exposure rather than localized increases or improvements in clarity.

When the system is laterally decentered, the beam spreads out unevenly, and some areas of the film will receive less radiation while others may receive more, but this typically results in an overall lower image quality, rather than an increase in exposure or clarity. Therefore, the result is a uniform loss of radiation across the entire image, causing it to appear less diagnostic.