What is the result of using lead strips angled toward the focal spot in a grid?

Using lead strips angled toward the focal spot in a grid is designed to reduce the amount of scatter radiation reaching the image receptor while allowing primary radiation to pass through more effectively. This configuration helps in enhancing image quality by improving contrast and clarity.

Scatter radiation, which occurs when the primary X-ray beam interacts with matter, can degrade the final image quality by adding unwanted density and obscuring essential details. By positioning the lead strips in such a way, the grid becomes more efficient at filtering out these scattered photons, thereby only allowing the more desirable primary photons to contribute to the image formation. This results in reduced scatter, which directly translates to improved image quality.

In contrast, other outcomes such as increased patient exposure or inconsistent image density would not be expected from this setup, as the main purpose of using a grid in this manner is to optimize image clarity without unnecessarily increasing the patient's radiation dose. Similarly, decreased image clarity would contradict the inherent design and purpose of angled lead strips in a grid, which are specifically aimed at enhancing image quality.